Danes belt RPI; gear up for clash with Dragons

SI1IHIS I:I>IIUK I f I heir slogan, "The Road lo Respccl", Includes healing up on leams lhal had defealcd them lasi year, I lie Albany Siaie baseball (cam mighi have one fool on ihc path. The Danes clubbed oul 17 hits off of Ihrce RPI pitchers cnroule lo a 16-6 thrashing of Ihc Engineers, yesterday on Troy High School field, across ihe slreei from Ihe RPI campus. In terms of respect, Ihe Danes lately have been treated almost as poorly as Rodney Dangerfield. Albany Stale dropped four out of six games during spring break as their record plummet led lo 4-9. But yesterday, on a sunbaked baseball diamond in Troy, everything seemed lo come logclher, for Ihe Danes — Ihe hitting, Ihe fielding, and Ihe pitching — namely Tom McCarthy, who pitched six and two-thirds, brilliant innings of relief lo pick up his first win of the year. " W e had our heads in Ihe game," said il i ird baseman Howie Hammond, who had Ihrce hiis, iwo RBI's and Iwo walks lo keep his Icam-leading balling average over .400. " I t was our best offensive performance of ihe year." The Danes are hoping lhal yesterday's romp will serve as a confidence builder for I his weekend's crucial four game series againsl SUNYAC rival Onconia — a cloublehcadcr Saturday at University Field and a clouhlelicader Sunday at Onconia. Ill the unlikely occurrence lhal Ihe Danes sweep ihe lour games, they would he back in Ihe running for a SUNYAC playoff berth. Presently, Albany Stale's conference record is a dismal 2-5-1. Things didn' l slarl off loo promising for Ihe visitors. Even before Ihe game, there were fateful signs lhal litis wasn't going lo be Albany's day. Head Coach Ed Zaloom was struck in the forehead by a hard-hit line drive while he was pitching balling practice. Zaloom was not seriously hurl; lie had a severe headache bin was able to coach the Squad, And what probably made Zaloom's headache worse was Ihc way RPI opened up lite game, scoring three runs in the first on four singles. Af lcr Albany cut Ihe margin to .1-2 in Ihc lop of ihc second, lite Engineers proceeded to send slatting pitcher Mike Plynn lo Ihc bench in the bottom of the inning by increasing Ihe lead to 5-2 on a two-run double hammered by Tim Albert. • Into the contest for Ihe Danes came McCarthy and suddenly Ihc Engineer offensive attack was stil led. Mixing up his hard curve and fastball effectively, McCarthy baffled thePRI hitters allowing just one run on four hits before being replaced with one oul in the ninth. " I was very pleased with his performance," said Zaloom, who seemed in good shape following the game despite a small bruise on his upper forehead. "Contro l was Ihc main thing going for him. He threw strikes, something our pitchers haven't done for us lately." While McCarthy was hurling his masterpiece, Ihc Dane bals started lo come alive, chipping away slowly at RPI's lead until overtaking them in the f i f th inning on freshman Steve Anlico's single that drove in junior Mike Vosburgh, who had doubled. The Danes never looked back aflcr that. In Ihe nexi inning, Albany raised their lead lo 7-5 on aid from two wild pilches. Dave Hennessey led off the inning with a walk and he reached third following two wild pilches thrown by Doug Bladccki, RPI's llt ird pitcher of the day. He scored on a nubbcr 10 first base hit by designated hitter Joe Phreell. If Ihe Dane offense production in Ihc first seven innings was like scoring in steady droplets, ihcir final Iwo innings they scored in tidal waves. Nine Danes crossed the plate in the eighth and ninth innings as a close healed battle quickly turiicd into a laugher. "We got Ihe hits when Ihe runners were on base," said Zaloom. "Usually, we scatter the hi ts." Hammond accounted tor one of the timely hits Zaloom was referring lo. In ihe eighth inning, the third baseman knocked home Iwo runs when he cleared lite bases on a triple lhal bounced one loot inside Ihe righi field foul line. Tile Ihrce-baggcr scored Dave Thclcman and Bob Conklin who had readied base on back lo back singles. Jeff McEuchron then drove in Hammond with a line single to center. In the ninth inning, Albany erupted for six runs sparked by a monstrous shot to center field by Antico lhal would've endangered vehicles traveling on 26»-