May 7, 2017

Comebacks and walkoffs highlight Sunday's games

More news about: Elmira | Neumann | Trine
Jason Ramos finished the season with the third best batting average on the RPI squad.
RPI athletics photo

Senior Jason Ramos came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the RPI past Union, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at Robison Field. With the win, the Engineers conclude their season with an 18-21 overall record, including a 10-11 mark in Liberty League play. The Dutchmen drop to 20-13 and will be the second seed in next week's Liberty League Tournament.

After being down 7-0 in the sixth inning, Neumann scored eight unanswered for the 8-7 comeback win in the opener of  two game set. Neumann fell behind in game two and made up the difference, cruising to a 12-9 win. The Knights earned a third seed in the upcoming CSAC tournament and will face Immaculata in the first round.

Penn State Behrend completing a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over host Marietta. The Pioneers steadily built their lead, scoring runs in the first, second, fifth, and sixth innings. However, the Lions' big ninth inning was enough to hold on for the win. With the score 4-2 in the top of the ninth, Behrend struck for four runs. The Lions were down to their final out before they rallied to take the two-run lead. Marietta put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the ninth, scoring a run with two outs to cut the Behrend lead to one. However, Scott Sada came in and struck the final Pioneer batter out to end the game.

Mike Andrews pitched a solid 7.2 innings of relief, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts as No. 6 seed Framingham State upset No. 2 seed Salem State 12-10 in the quarterfinals of the MASCAC Tournament at Alumni Field. The Rams improve to 19-22 and move into the winner's bracket where they will face No. 4 seed Worcester State at Westfield State. The Vikings will play the No. 1 seed Owls in an elimination game.

Top-seeded Shenandoah ended No. 4 Virginia Wesleyan's season with a 4-1 win over the Marlins in the opening game of day three of the 2017 ODAC Baseball Tournament. Junior Michael Bugonowicz (6-1) threw 8.2 innings, striking out nine allowing only an unearned run on four hits, before turning it over to Tyler Hott for the final out of the contest. Hott earned his program-record-tying ninth save of the season with a seven-pitch at-bat to Justin Erby. Erby fouled off five consecutive pitches before grounding out to end the game. Roanoke overcame a big day by Randolph-Macon's Rick Spiers to advance in the ODAC tournament. The Maroons scored twice in the eleventh inning to win 11-9. Roanoke will play Washington and Lee in the ODAC championship game. Washington and Lee earned their spot with a 10-6 win over Shenandoah.

Trine earned a doubleheader sweep over Albion 12-10, 15-14 on its senior day at Jannen Field. The Thunder send its 10 seniors off in a comeback fashion to take both games. In game one, two grand slams coming from Jacob Heller and Drew Palmer, along with a two-run shot by Zach Seder secured Trine's win. Two huge innings in the eighth and ninth inning of game two allowed the Thunder to earn the comeback win with Colton Conn notching a walk-off two RBI single to the opposite side of the field. Heller led Trine's offense with six RBI, four of them coming from his first career grand slam. He closed out the season on a 15-game hitting streak. Palmer added four RBI of his own to help the offense. He wrapped up his career with 91 career RBI to take second place in team history. His 35 RBI this season moves him into a tie for fourth place in team history.

TCNJ's Mike Walley pitched nine scoreless innings for the win over Rowan.
TCNJ athletics photo

Freshman Michael Walley threw a complete game shutout, leading The College of New Jersey to a 5-0 victory over Rowan in the NJAC Championship Tournament. The win advances the Lions to the NJAC final game tomorrow evening at 5:00 p.m. at Kean University. TCNJ will play the winner of the Rowan/Ramapo game, which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Walley was magnificent, facing just 29 batters over nine innings. He limited the Profs to three hits and walked one, while striking out five. His tremendous post-season performance gives the Lions a shot at their first NJAC tournament title since 2009.

No. 2 seed Endicott became the first Commonwealth Coast Conference team to earn a spot 2017 CCC Championship Series after defeating No. 6 seed Gordon in the pod finals. In the other pod hosted by No. 1 seed Salve Regina, the host Seahawks and No. 6 seed Nichols advanced to the pod finals. The Gulls came into Sunday needing just one win to earn a trip to the Championship series. However, Gordon put together a four-run rally in the top of the eighth to pick up a 5-4 win force a "winner-take-all" game. In the "winner-take-all" game the Endicott bats came to life. They blew out the Fighting Scots 15-0 to advance into next weekend. The Salve Regina pod was a day behind due to unplayable field conditions on Saturday. The top-seeded Seahawks knocked off No. 4 seed Curry, 6-2, in the early game to assure themselves a spot in the pod finals. The Colonels then had to play an elimination game against No. 5 seed Nichols. The Bison held a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth before Curry mounted a comeback effort with two runs in the inning. Nichols was able to close it out to stay alive in the tournament with a 6-4 win. Salve and Nichols will meet in the pod finals on Monday.

RIT finished the regular season by extending its winning streak to nine games by sweeping Bard in the regular season finale doubleheader at Honey Field. The Tigers won game one 7-2, before polishing off the regular season with a 12-4 win in game two. RIT is now 11-0 all-time against Bard. The Tigers end the regular season with a 19-game winning streak in league play, having out-scored Liberty League foes, 176-54 in the 23 contests. Overall, RIT has out-scored its foes, 282-122 this season.

After two weeks without games because of rain, No. 19-ranked Washington University secured a doubleheader sweep over Millikin beating the Big Blue 13-1 and 5-4 in the two game series at Sunnyside Ballpark. The Bears were led by senior pitcher Brad Margolin's complete game four-hitter while sophomore Zack Kotin notched his fourth win of the year in the second game while senior Jake Mintz picked up the save. Washington showed no rust with the Despite the time off the baseball field, racking up 26 hits between the two games with 13 hits in each contest. Freshman John Brinkman knocked in five runs to lead the Bears attack while Washington's batters accumulated nine multi-hit games.

Elmira defeated Utica 6-3 in come-from-behind fashion on Sunday afternoon in a neutral site contest at Houghton College to clinch the third seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Conference Tournament. The Soaring Eagles had to overcome several obstacles to qualify for the 2017 Empire 8 Tournament. Rain postponed the game twice and forced the game to be moved to a neutral site.