Subscribe to the Ithaca, NY (5/10/08) – Senior shortstop Josh Smith (Pulaski/Richland) hit two home runs – a grand slam and a solo shot – and drove in six runs to power the Ithaca Bombers (28-11) past visiting Montclair State (26-17) Saturday at Freeman Field.
The loss dealt a serious blow to the Red Hawks chances for an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. MSU, which was ranked fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Region entering this weekend, was looking to bolster its resume before the field of 54 teams is announced on Monday. Senior catcher Jeff Miller (Wyckoff, NJ / Ramapo) had two hits for MSU, which wil face the same Ithaca team on Sunday at 1:00 pm
Smith’s
grand slam highlighted Ithaca’s five-run sixth and came after the Red
Hawks intentionally walked senior outfielder Rob Raux (Ilion/Frankfort)
to pitch to face him with the bases loaded. Smith also singled in a run
in the fifth and capped Ithaca’s scoring with a solo home run in the
eighth.
Seven other Bombers had multi-hit games as Ithaca pounded Montclair pitching for 18 hits. Freshman third baseman David Ahonen (Victor/Farmington) had a pair of hits (his team-leading total of 57 is a Bomber freshman record) and scored three runs.
Senior
Shane Wolf (Freeville/Lansing), the first of four pre-arranged Bomber
pitchers, earned the win with four four-hit shutout innings. Wolf
improved to 10-1 on the season and became the fourth Bomber to win 10
games in a season. His career total of 16 wins – in two years – is one
short of 15th on the program’s all-time list.
Raux
singled twice, scored two runs and drove in one; the RBI was the 169th
of his career, leaving him one shy of tying the school record set by
all-American Kurt DeLuca between 1982 and 1985. Raux’s 215 career hits
puts him second on that list as well; he needs six hits to pass
all-American Vince Roman (1987-90) for that record.