New York University's baseball team split with the Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday, March 11, in the Violets' first games of their Spring Break trip to the Sunshine State, playing in Bradenton, FL, this afternoon.

NYU took game one 16-8 thanks to a nine-run bottom of the eighth featuring multiple walks and hit batters before a two-run double from Kosta Mocklis highlighted the offensive output.

Nate Pallotta also launched his second home run of the season and is the only Violet to go deep so far in 2023. Ashwin Chona picked up the win on the mound, pitching the final two innings while allowing just one run on four hits and no walks with five strikeouts.

The Violets dropped game two 6-4 despite two hits each from Cam Dunn and Nick Argenziano.

NYU scored the first two runs of the contest, but couldn't maintain the lead.

Starter John Gassler was saddled with his first loss of the season despite only allowing one earned run, two hits and recording nine strikeouts over 4.2 innings. 

The Violets fell behind 6-2 but battled back for two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a sac fly by Richard Beggy and a single by Rob Conklin.,

NYU threatened in the ninth, getting two runners on, but could not put any runs across. 

NYU continues its time in Florida with another contest against Illinois Tech tomorrow, beginning at 10:00am in Bradenton.