New York teams make noise on Saturday - D3baseball


Dom Pirro hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the tenth inning. Clarkson athletics photo

Three late comebacks helped Clarkson earn two walk-off wins against Union on Saturday. The two walk-off victories, one by the score of 4-3 and the other 8-7, represented the first time since 2004 that Clarkson had won both games of a doubleheader on their last at bats. Clarkson is now 12-1 overall and boasts a perfect 6-0 Liberty League record.

Senior closer Kevin Becker-Menditto earned a pair of saves to move to 11 on the season as Alvernia swept a doubleheader at Lebanon Valley in Commonwealth Conference action at McGill Field.
Sophomore Ryan Sheekey turned over a 3-2 lead to Becker-Menditto with on out in the sixth and the bullpen, namely Louis Marotta and Matt Osgoodby, handed over a 7-5 lead with an inning to go and the senior closer preseved both wins to move to 42 saves for his career, just four short of the Division III career record just set last season by Wheaton (Mass.) closer Ryan Grant.

History was made at Elmira's Dunn Field, as Elmira earned their first win as a collegiate program with a 9-5 victory over visiting Houghton. Elmira's historical win came in the second game of an Empire 8 Conference doubleheader against Houghton, a team the Soaring Eagles were facing for a fourth time this season. Today's win is also Elmira's first victory against an Empire 8 Conference opponent.

Felix Baez tossed a one-hitter and Keystone outscored Centenary 21-3 in a CSAC doubleheader sweep at the TD Bank Ballpark. The Giants won game one 12-0 and the second 8-3. In the opener, Baez surrendered just a two-out, first inning single by Ryan Caparoni while striking out 10 batters and got plenty of run support to improve to 3-0 on the season with a complete-game gem.

Playing as the away team, Benedictine split a pair of conference contests with Wisconsin Lutheran. Benedictine put up two runs in three different innings to build a 6-0 advantage and hold on in the first game. Wisconsin Lutheran scored in the first four innings and held off a Benedictine rally to salvage a split.

Dominican swept a doubleheader from the Aurora Spartans on the road in a NACC series. The victories mark the first time in program history the Stars have swept the Spartans. Colin Janison's three-run home run in the top of the eighth powered the Stars past the Spartans 12-8 in game one while Quinlan Milne Rojek tossed eight solid innings in his second start of the season as Dominican took game two 10-4.

MIT completed its three-game NEWMAC series against Babson with a doubleheader sweep this afternoon. A five-run, eighth inning was the difference in an 8-4 win in game one, while junior Nicholas Locascio picked up his second win of the season in game two as he blanked the Beavers over the first eight innings in a 6-3 victory.

Guilford posted nine un-answered runs in game two, coming back from a 4-1 deficit to earn an ODAC doubleheader split with Eastern Mennonite. The Royals claimed game one, 2-1, but the Quakers came back to take the nightcap, 10-5.


Widener senior pitcher Robert Barth lost his no hit bid in the fifth in a win over Albright. Widener athletics photo

Widener split a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader with Albright. In game one, the Pride defeated the Lions, 6-2. However, in game two Widener was unable to earn the sweep, as they fell to Albright, 6-5.

Playing its first two games at Dugan Yard this year, St. John Fisher picked up two wins over visiting Utica. The Cardinals snapped a six-game skid with a 4-1 win in the first game, and in the nightcap, Fisher tallied 15 runs and 20 hits (both season-highs) in a 15-8 victory over the Pioneers.

New York split a doubleheader against St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) at MCU Park in Brooklyn. The Violets won game one 15-3 before falling in game two 10-1.

Senior teammates Kris Doyle and Ben Libuda both went the distance on the mound as they helped propel Worcester State in a 3-2 and 2-1 sweep over Bridgewater State in MASCAC action this afternoon at the Kevin Lyons Baseball Diamond.

A three-run home run and four total RBIs from sophomore third baseman Mike Kochiss as well as sophomore lefty Luke Morse's second straight victory on the mound helped Endicott secure a 13-0 win over Gordon in game one of a CCC doubleheader before the Scots responded by winning game two 4-1.

Sophomore Dillon Healy and senior Joe Palmeri both picked up their fourth win of the season, helping Manhattanville to a doubleheader sweep of Wilkes in Freedom Conference play, winning game one 7-4 before picking up a decisive game two victory by a final score of 5-3. Healy tossed 6.1 innings in game one, allowing four runs on eight hits before picking up the win. Palmeri went the distance in game two, throwing a complete game for the Valiants, giving up three runs on 13 hits.

Northwestern (Minn.) displayed its best hitting performances to date this season to sweep a weekend three-game series against UMAC foe Bethany Lutheran as the Eagles won both games of a doubleheader in 9-1 and 19-5 fashion. In addition to collectively out-hitting the Vikings 31-15, UNW hit five home runs against a team that entered the weekend tied for first in the league standings.

Junior Sean Greiser helped to set the tone for Virginia Wesleyan as the Marlins moved closer to finalizing one of the program's best regular-seasons ever in ODAC competition. Greiser struck out a career-high 12 batters to help guide the Marlins to a 5-1 victory over Roanoke in the first game of the doubleheader at Marlins Field. Strong hitting took over for VWC in the second game as the Marlins belted seven extra-base hits, highlighted by a home run from Jordan Miller, in a 10-6 win to complete the sweep.

It all came down to one inning for Whitworth as the Pirates used one big inning in both games to take both ends of a Northwest Conference doubleheader from Pacific at Chuck Bafaro Stadium. The Pirates scored three runs in the top of the first in the opener, which proved to be all they would need for a 3-1 victory. Whitworth did not get their offense going until the top of the first, exploding for seven runs en route to an 8-2 win.

Mount Union tallied 22 runs on 26 hits in beating Capital 11-7 and 11-5 in an OAC doubleheader at 23rd Street Field in Alliance. Eight different Mount Union starters had a hit and seven drove in runs in game one. Mount Union again got off to a quick start in game two running out to an 8-0 lead over the first innings. The Raiders drew six walks in those first three frames and four of them gave around to score.

Oglethorpe got its three-game SAA series against Centre off to an excellent start at Anderson Field, sweeping the visiting Colonels in a doubleheader to post 13 wins over their last 15 games. The Stormy Petrels got a complete-game shutout from junior left-hander Kyle Mitchell en route to a 6-0 victory in game two after scoring five in the seventh in game one to enact the 10-run rule and defeat the Colonels 11-1 in a seven-inning opening game.

Bethel swept Carleton, 7-0, 3-0, as they held them scoreless in the afternoon's twin bill. The Royals allowed eight total hits in 16 innings played and outscored the Knights 10-0. Jake Hanzalik earned a game one win and Joe Zorn earned the win in the nightcap.


Drew Oord had a team best five hits in a sweep of Puget Sound. Pacific Lutheran photo by Jacqui Gutierrez

The Pacific Lutheran offense erupted for 31 hits and 19 runs as the Lutes swept a NWC doubleheader against cross-town rival Puget Sound. PLU won the first game 11-7 before claiming the second contest 9-3. Drew Oord tallied a team-best five hits in the two games with four runs scored and three batted in. Curtis Wildung went 3-for-4 in the opener with three doubles and a pair of runs batted in, while Jacob Bockelie tallied four hits, four runs batted in and three runs scored.

John Carroll started a six game stretch against teams receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll on Saturday and started 2-0 as John Carroll swept visiting Otterbein 12-5, 11-1 at Schweickert Field. The Blue Streaks stands in sole possession of first place in the conference after the wins.

Westminster (Mo.) served Fontbonne their first two conference losses in Saturday's 2-0 conference sweep. The 6-4 and 12-6 wins bring the Blue Jays to 6-4 in conference play and 11-8 on the season.

Pomona-Pitzer picked up a huge road doubleheader sweep of Chapman by identical 7-4 scores to get back into the SCIAC title race. The SCIAC race is now incredibly jumbled, with La Verne at 15-6, holding a one game lead and Redlands (16-8), Cal Lutheran (14-7), Pomona-Pitzer (14-7), Chapman (14-7) and Occidental (14-7) in a five-way tie for second, all with .667 win percentages. The Sagehens still have three games with Caltech next weekend to try to move up the standings before the four-game round robin.

Two Hope pitchers tossed complete games for the Flying Dutchmen in a 6-2 and 7-0 sweep of second-place Kalamazoo at Boeve Stadium. Junior Austin Goodyke and sophomore Ty Van Wieren went the distance on the mound for Hope.