April 29, 2017

TCNJ wraps up top seed in NJAC tournament

More news about: Kean | Ramapo | TCNJ
Birmingham-Southern, the top South team in the first NCAA regional rankings, has won two tournament games without a loss in SAA post-season play.
Birmingham-Southern athletics photo

Birmingham-Southern was down 0-2 to Berry and responded with a five run inning to stay unbeaten in the SSA tournament. The Panthers will have a rematch with Berry as the Vikings defeated Sewanee in the elimination final. Sewanee defeated Centre 13-3 earlier to stay alive in the first elimination game. Second seeded Rhodes also remain without a loss with a 5-3 win over Hendrix who will play Millsaps later tonight.

Ithaca rode the arms of junior Robby Buffis and sophomore Jake Binder, plus 24 hits from the offense to sweep Utica, 14-1 and 8-1, in an Empire 8 Conference doubleheader at Freeman Field. Over the course of the doubleheader, the Ithaca pitching staff walked just one batter and threw 168 pitches.

 Juniors Mark Webber and Ryan Arena combined to hit five of Babson's seven home runs as the Beavers completed a sweep of their NEWMAC Tournament semifinal series against Wheaton (Mass.) at Govoni Field. Second-seeded Babson, which is 11th in the NCAA regional rankings, took the opener 6-4 and followed it up with a 10-2 victory over the third-seeded Lyons in game two. In the other semifinal series it was MIT who advanced to play Babson this weekend. MIT scored in each of the final seven innings of the opening game to pull away for a 17-9 victory and then put up four runs in the top of the ninth inning to go ahead late in a 9-5 win in a back-and-forth nightcap as the fifth-seeded Engineers swept their NEWMAC Semifinal best-of-three series versus top seed and host WPI in a doubleheader played at Clark.

Salem State held off Fitchburg State 7-5 in game one at the Central Campus Baseball Field. Joe Kasper led the Vikings with a 3-for-3 day with two doubles and three RBI's. Madoc Fisher's one-out single drove in Alex Toomey and Fisher came all the way around to score on a throwing error as the Vikings took game two, 6-5 in extra innings.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor battled back from an early deficit and then held off Louisiana College's late rally attempt as the Cru posted a 6-3 victory over the Wildcats in Pineville, Louisiana. The victory completes a sweep of the three-game series for UMHB. Braden McMahan earned the win for the Cru to move to 2-1 on the season in relief of Evan Samoff. Aaron Barteau notched his 13th save of the year. Mark Frankhouser led UMHB with three hits and Walt Aldridge had two of the Wildcats' eight hits in the game. Charlie Waddington took the loss for LC to fall to 5-3 on the season.

Elmira plated 20 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Medaille in non-conference action. The Soaring Eagles won the opening game by a final score of 6-1, before routing the Mavericks in the nightcap, 14-3.

Endicott swept Roger Williams in a league doubleheader by scores of 5-4 and 6-2 at Paolino Field. Tied 3-3 in the top of the sixth in the opener, Endicott pushed across two runs in the frame to come away with the game one victory. Joseph Oriola claimed the victory in relief on 2.1 innings pitched, one hit, zero runs, no walks, and a team-high six strikeouts. Bryant also notched his conference-leading sixth save of the season via 1.1 innings, one hit, and one strikeout.

Castleton padded its lead in the North Atlantic Conference with a doubleheader sweep over second-place Husson at Alfond Diamond. The Spartans won the opening game, 6-1, before defeating the Eagles, 2-1, in the nightcap. Castleton holds a six game lead over Husson who is one game ahead of third place Colby-Sawyer.

Jack Clark had three hits and three RBIs as Kalamazoo set a new standard for wins in a season.
Kalamazoo photo by Kimberly Ross

Kalamazoo won a school record 25th game of the season with an 8-4 win at Alma in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday. The Hornets took 3-of-4 from Alma after winning both games in Kalamazoo on Friday. Alma won Saturday's opener 4-3 after scoring a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Ryan Orr doubled in the top of the seventh but was stranded with the final out.

Bethel picked up a critical sweep over Gustavus Adolphus, which helped them stay within striking distance of the MIAC regular season crown with four games remaining. The Royals jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in game one and cruised to a convincing 12-1 triumph, but the Gusties made things very interesting in game two before Bethel ended with a thrilling 7-6 win in the nine-inning finale.

Freshman outfielder Savino Citriniti totaled four RBI at Brockport in a SUNYAC doubleheader as SUNY New Paltz split with the Golden Eagles, winning game one, 4-2, before dropping game two, 9-5. The Hawks will now prepare for the 2017 SUNYAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed, hosted by top-seed Oswego State this weekend. New Paltz will face the No. 1 seed Lakers, who clinched the SUNYAC regular season title with a sweep of SUNY Oneonta 7-2 and 9-2, in the double-elimination style bracket. Brockport earned the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 2 seed Cortland.

Penn State Behrend closed out their AMCC season, splitting with No. 17 La Roche. The Redhawks took game one 7-2 before the Behrend scored three runs in the eighth to take game two, 3-1. The Lions earned a first round bye with the game-two victory, finishing second in the AMCC. La Roche takes the regular season title and the other first round pass.

Baruch began their three-game weekend series against John Jay by recording a 3-1 victory at MCU Park Brooklyn Cyclones on Coney Island. The visiting Bloodhounds scored their lone run in their opening at-bat on a Brian Garcia RBI single to plate R.J. Davila. The contest was a pitching duel from there on between John Jay's Christian Rodriguez and Baruch's Matthew Fazio, but the Bearcats took control and tied the game in their bottom seventh on a solo homer to left field by Edwin St. Hilaire, adding two more runs for the winning margin in the eighth.

Freshman Jackson Simone rapped out four hits and drove in four runs to lead Mass Maritime to a sweep of a non-league college doubleheader from Maine-Presque Isle by scores of 13-7 in the opener and 7-6 in the nightcap at Commodore Hendy Field. Mass Maritime hosts Gordon in its season finale on Tuesday afternoon at Commodore Hendy Field, as the Buccaneers missed out on the MASCAC tournament by a game after Framingham State swept Bridgewater State earlier in the day. Today's contests closed out the season for Maine-Presque Isle.

Nichols swept Wentworth in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Campanelli Field. The Bison took game one, 9-6, before turning around and winning game two, 8-1. The Bisons have won 20 games for the second striaght season.

Plattsburgh State won both games, 9-0 and 4-2, in a SUNYAC doubleheader at Chip Cummings Field. The Cardinals, now winners in five of their last six games, improve to 13-20 overall and finish at 5-13 in the league, while the Blue Devils fall to 16-20 and 3-15. Plattsburgh State completes the season sweep of Fredonia for the first time since 2011.

Freshman righty Bobby Hegarty tossed his first career shutout in the opener to lead Scranton to a split in a Landmark Conference doubleheader at Moravian. Hegarty's gem led the Royals to a 4-0 victory in game one. The Royals' pitching was nearly as good in game two, but they lost a close one, 2-1, in eight innings. Scranton knotted the score in the fifth, but Moravian scored in the bottom of the eighth to win it.

DeSales completed a three-game weekend sweep of Misericordia winning twice on Saturday afternoon by scores of 11-3 and 6-3, in a MAC Freedom doubleheader at Tambur Field.
DeSales athletis photo

Alvernia starter John Catchmark tossed a complete game shutout in a 3-0 win in game one as #24 Alvernia split a MAC Commonwealth doubleheader with Arcadia at Angelia Park. Catchmark struck out 11 batters as the Crusaders locked up the top seed in the with the game one win. Ben Dubas homered in the second to open the scoring and Colin Reiger drove in a pair with a bases loaded single in the sixth. Alvernia will face fourth-seeded Lebanon Valley on Thursday on the first day of the Championships. Arcadia is the second seed and will face third-seeded Widener in the other Thursday game.

Michael Schimpf hit a two run blast to left to begin the scoring in the first inning, and he added the go-ahead RBI double in the bottom of the fifth as the Centenary Gents knocked off Trinity (Texas) 5-3 in the finals of the winner’s bracket on day two at the SCAC Tournament at AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas. Southwestern will meet Trinty in an elimination games after they sent Texas Lutheran home, defeating the Bulldogs 4-3.

RIT celebrated Senior Day by extending its Liberty League winning streak to 13 games after sweeping St. Lawrence by scores of 9-2 and 3-0. RIT head coach Rob Grow won his 450th game at the university in game one. In addition, RIT clinched a postseason berth in game two and moved closer to securing its first regular season title.

St. Scholastica took on conference rival Northwestern (Minn.), winning both games with ease with scores of 17-0 and 16-3 in game one and game two respectively. The Saints used a 15-run fifth inning to propel their way past the Eagles for the 17-0 victory, outhitting UNW 17-4 in the seven innings played. CSS allowed the Eagles a few runs in game two, falling behind after a successful third inning by UNW, but ultimately took the 16-3 victory after a strong push in the later innings.

No. 6 UW-Whitewater maintained its hold on first place in the WIAC standings with a two-game sweep over UW-Platteville in a doubleheader at Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium. The Warhawks came back twice in the opener to post a 7-5 victory before riding a strong pitching performance by senior Westin Wuethrich in the second game en route to a 5-0 triumph. Wuethrich tossed a complete-game, three-hit shutout to lead UW-Whitewater in the nightcap, collecting nine strikeouts while not walking a hitter in the performance.

Muhlenberg rallied from behind with a six-run sixth inning on the way to winning 18-16 and splitting its Senior Day doubleheader against Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats won the opener 6-3. The two teams combined for 45 hits to go with the 34 runs, with the Mules pounding out 23 hits, four shy of tying the school record for a single game, to go with 18 RBIs.

Junior Rick Spiers had three hits and two RBI in game two as the 14th-ranked Randolph-Macon team split an ODAC doubleheader at Roanoke at Kiwanis Park. The Yellow Jackets won the nightcap 8-4 after the Maroons took the opener 5-3.

Senior Paul McDonough slammed a two-run home run to spark a six-run, seventh-inning rally and Southern Maine went on to defeat the visiting Keene State 11-8 in the nightcap of the teams Little East Conference doubleheader at the USM Baseball Stadium.  The Huskies swept the doubleheader by taking the opening game 9-3. The sweep improved the Huskies record to 24-8 overall and 11-1 in LEC play, and moved them within one game of winning the LEC regular-season title and the top seed in the upcoming championship tournament. The Owls, who came into the doubleheader on a three-game winning streak, dropped to 13-20 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

Sophomore Luke Scoggins blasted a two-out walk-off home run in the ninth inning of game two and the Manhattanville swept Wilkes on Senior Day at Manhattanville Field to put themselves in excellent position to make the MAC Freedom tournament for the sixth consecutive season. Scoggins went 5-for-10 at the plate Saturday, scoring two runs while driving home three. Junior Danny Gallagher racked up four hits on the day and senior Chris Conklin went 3-for-5 with four runs scored.