Express Surge Late, Ultimately Fall Just Short of Second-Straight Walk-Off Victory

AURORA, NY - So far this season, the Wells College baseball team has the tendency to flip a switch and start absolutely rolling on offense. Recently, that switch has been flipped in the later stages of games, and Wednesday night was no different as the Express nearly erased an 8-1 deficit in the span of 4 innings, ultimately falling to the Vermont State Castleton Spartans by a score of 8-7. 

The Express battled back and fought like crazy to get the score to within one, but they built themselves a hole too big to climb out of as they've had a habit of doing in the last couple games.

Senior captain Aaron Izquierdo kept on rolling in the midweek matchup, launching two rockets off the left field fence to get the Express offense chugging once again. Izquierdo has been on a tear recently, shooting his season average up to .408 and also notching a hit in his 9th straight game, a streak that dates back to mid-March. The standout from Palisades Pk, NJ got way more than just a single hit though. Izquierdo finished batting 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. His hits came at very clutch and opportunistic moments, warming the engine for the Express multi-run 7th and 8th innings.

Izquierdo wasn't the only Express batter with 3 hits on the evening, as fellow senior Zack Odum also recorded 3 base-knocks, going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Odum was integral in keeping the line moving and setting up the batters after him in excellent positions. 

One of these following batters was sophomore sensation Jacobi James, who stayed hot, going 2-for-5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. 

First year AJ Campi also built on his recent success at the plate, going 2-for-5 and knocking in 2 RBI on the night.

Most of this run production came in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings as the Express put up run counts of 1, 3, and 2 respectively in each of those frames. This brought the Express to within 1 run, but despite the timely hitting, it was the great Express bullpen that kept them in the contest.

Wells College saw some awesome performances out of the pen, with multiple hurlers taking their turn at slowing the Spartan momentum.

One of these relievers that saw some great success was senior Zac Legaretta, who made his first appearence on the mound since February 24th. Legaretta showed absolutely no rust and went straight back to work, going 2 innings and not allowing a single hit to go along with 2 strikeouts. 

Also showing promise in relief were Bradley Perry and Cameron Hayman who did their part and managed to keep the Spartans off the scoreboard during their vital innings on the bump.

Legaretta, Perry, and Hayman threw a combined 5.2 innings in relief, allowing 0 runs and securing 5 strikeouts while only letting Castleton procure a single hit over the duration of their outings. This amazing display of bullpen brilliance kept the Express in the game and gave them a chance to nab their second straight walk-off win, which they fell just short of by a single run.

Despite this, the complete performance is lying just out of reach at the moment, however if the Express can flip the switch early, or leave the switch flipped for the entirety of their games, they will be a fearsome squad in AMCC play. 

The Express will return to action this weekend when they dive back into AMCC play against the Mounties of Mount Aloysius. They will travel to Cresson on Saturday for that doubleheader.