KINGS POINT, N.Y. (April 19, 2022) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy baseball team completed a dramatic comeback against the Baruch College Bearcats on Tuesday evening with their 11-8 victory at Bartoszek Field. With the win, the Mariners extended their winning streak to four games and improved to 18-13 overall. The Bearcats meanwhile had their nine-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 9-7 on the season.
 
Game Links

• Box Score
• WATCH: Game Highlights
• WATCH: Postgame Interview With Junior Chris Klayer
• WATCH: Postgame Interview With Freshman Garrett Clapsaddle 

In a game full of twists and turns, the Mariners jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. An RBI-triple from sophomore Tyler Reistetter (Dickinson, Texas) was followed by RBIs from junior Jared Chambers (Houston, Texas) and freshman Travis Leatherwood (Catonsville, Md.). Off and running with the lead, USMMA and their red-hot pitching staff were in a good spot.
 
Coming into the game, Merchant Marine pitchers had recorded 26.1 consecutive scoreless innings. All senior Grant Corb (Katy, Texas) did was add to that total by tossing three hitless innings. In two starts this season, Corb has thrown six shutout innings while only allowing one hit and striking out seven.
 
The Bearcats cracked the riddle of the Mariners' pitching staff in the fourth after an RBI single from Steven Patterson cut USMMA's lead to 3-1. Senior Billy Todd (Gastonia N.C.) held Baruch to one unearned run as the Mariners' scoreless innings streak came to an end at 30.0 IP.
 
Baruch's offense carried its momentum into the fifth by scoring seven runs to go up 8-3. Once again, the Mariners showed their "down but not out" attitude in the later innings. Merchant Marine chipped away with a Leatherwood RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
 
Down 8-4 in the sixth, triples from freshmen Garrett Clapsaddle (Murphy, N.C.) and Derek Vanasse (Camarillo, Calif.) set up run-scoring groundouts from senior Matthew Novakowski (Hillsdale, N.J.) and junior Joey Zanetti (Richmond, Va.) to cut the deficit to 8-6.
 
Still scratching away in the seventh, Merchant Marine chased Baruch starter David Sierra Perez after 6.2 IP thanks to a Clapsaddle RBI-double to creep closer at 8-7. Reliever Benjamin Akerman came on to get the final out of the seventh and preserve the Bearcats' lead.
 
The freshman right-hander stayed on for the bottom of the eighth and was blitzed by the Mariners' offense. A first-pitch leadoff triple from Vanasse set up the game-tying sacrifice fly by Zanetti. With two away and Reistetter on first, Chambers scorched a ball that Baruch shortstop Brian Hwang made a great stop on but threw wide to first.
 
With freshman Jack Millen (Shelby, N.C.) at the plate, Akerman uncorked a wild pitch to bring in Reistetter with the go-ahead run. After Millen reached on an error, the door remained open for the Mariners, as a passed ball plated Chambers with the tenth run for the USMMA.
 
The knockout punch was delivered by Leatherwood, the Mariners' scorching-hot number-six hitter. Leatherwood drove an RBI-double into the right-center field gap to put Merchant Marine up 11-8. Since being slotted in the sixth spot on Saturday, Leatherwood is 7-for-10 with seven RBIs. Leatherwood has driven in all seven runs with two outs.
 
Up three going to the ninth inning, Coach Mike Notebaert called on sophomore Tommy Payton (Palm Harbor, Fla.) for the save. Payton set down the Bearcats quietly for his first career collegiate save.
 
The unsung hero of the game for the Mariners cannot go unnoticed – junior Chris Klayer (Brownsburg Ind.) tossed two enormous scoreless frames to keep the Mariners within striking distance. Klayer's largest pitch of the game came in the top of the eighth when he struck out Hwang with the bases loaded to end the inning and keep the Mariners' deficit at 8-7. Klayer earned the win, the first of his collegiate career, to move to 1-0 on the season. Akerman suffered the loss for Baruch to fall to 1-1.
 
Merchant Marine returns to action on Saturday afternoon, April 23, when they travel to the Bronx to take on the College of Mount Saint Vincent in a big conference doubleheader beginning at 12-noon at Roberto Clemente Park. Any live links for the doubleheader will be posted on the USMMA Baseball Schedule Page.
 
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