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| Swarthmore beat Arcadia 9-2 on Thursday, in a tune-up between playoff bound teams. The Garnet is now 33-9 this season and has outdone the previous program record set in 1985 by six wins. Swarthmore athletics photo |
Saint Vincent dropped top-seeded Washington & Jefferson 4-2 in the opening round of the 2018 Presidents' Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament at Ross Memorial Park. The loss to the Bearcats snaps a nine-game winning streak for the Presidents in the series and it is the second time Saint Vincent has upset W&J in the opening round of the PAC Championship Tournament as the four-seed (7-4 in 2012). The second-seeded Thomas More rallied to defeat third-seeded Thiel, 4-3 and will meet Saint Vincent.
It was a back-and-forth game early in the CCIW tournament opener at Zimmerman Stadium, until North Central exploded with a six-run eighth inning, catapulting three home runs in the 12-6 win over North Park. Carthage also opened with a big win, defeating the Augustana College Vikings, 5-2. With the win, the Red Men stay in the winner's bracket and will face North Central on Friay. " Kevin Tibor, turning double plays and timely hitting was the story," said Carthage head coach Augie Schmidt IV following the win.
- MIAC Photo Gallaries: St. Mary's vs Gustavus | St. Thomas vs Macalester
Senior Drew Molin threw a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to lead fourth-seed St. Thomas to a 4-0 victory over No. 5-seed Macalester in a first-round elimination game in the MIAC Playoffs at St. Paul's CHS Field. It was the seventh shutout of the season for the Tommies (19-16), who got three-hit games from Ryan Lust and Zach Gottfredsen. Cole Pengilly went 4-for-5 with four runs batted in as the No. 6 seeded Gusties upset No. 3 Saint Mary's, 5-2. Gustavus Adolphus and St. Thomas advance into the double elimination round with top seeds St. John's (Minn.) and Bethel.
La Roche advanced to the AMCC Tournament Winner's Bracket Final after defeating Penn State Altoona 8-2. The Redhawks will take on Pitt-Greensburg, an 8-3 winner over Penn State-Behrend tomorrow with the winner advancing to Sunday's AMCC Championship Round. Austin Hoffman was 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for the Redhawks. Matt Mish was dominate for the Bobcats, pitching a complete game seven-hitter for the win.
Junior Garrett Crum provided the early offensive firepower with a two-run second-inning home run, and first-year Evan Faxon closed out Kenyon with four innings of one-hit relief, as No. 2 Wooster opened the 2018 NCAC Tournament with an 8-1 win over the Lords at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. Wabash earned a date with Wooster, upsetting Dennison 4-2.
Texas-Dallas is just one win away from its first-ever conference title after earning a 9-3 win over Concordia Texas in the first game of the American Southwest Conference Championship Series, held this weekend at Tornado Field. The Comets (29-15) quickly opened the scoring with four runs in the top of the 1st inning to set the tone for the first game of the best-of-three series with the host Tornados (29-15).
Junior Charlie Ruegger spun his third complete game of the season while setting the single-season program record for strikeouts as Stevens defeated Houghton 4-2 to open the Empire 8 Conference Tournament. Ruegger (8-2) continued his dominant 2018 campaign, scattering just four hits and striking out 12 in his first season as a starting pitcher. Ruegger fanned Ben Closson to end the sixth for his 92nd strikeout of the year, passing classmate Danny Poidomani, who struck out 91 one season ago.
Franklin had a strong debut in the 2018 HCAC Tournament, defending their home turf at John P. McDowell Field with a 9-6 win over fourth-seeded Manchester in the final game of the opening day. Sophomore Ryan Bixler belted a pair of solo home runs and scored three times as the driving force for the Franklin (36-3) offense. Nick Wright and Jackson Freed each drove in a pair of runs each and six different Grizzlies recorded multiple hits against the Spartans' (20-21) pitching staff. Franklin will move to the winner's bracket on Friday, taking on third-seeded Rose-Hulman in a battle of the two unbeaten teams left in the tournament. The Engineers advanced with a thrilling 7-4 10-inning win over second-seeded Anderson in the second game on Thursday. In game one, Manchester defeated Bluffton 8-5.
Ithaca also moved on in the winner's bracket of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament with a high-scoring, 17-11 victory over St. John Fisher at Dobbelaar Field in Hoboken, N.J. The victory for Ithaca pits them against Stevens tomorrow for the opportunity to advance to the Empire 8 title game on Saturday. The 28 runs scored in the contest matches the most runs scored in an Empire 8 Tournament game. Ithaca was part of the other 28-run onslaught against Canton during the 2015 tournament as the Bombers prevailed, 19-9. Ithaca used an eight-run seventh inning to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 14-7 lead, which proved to be the difference maker in the contest. The Bombers also recorded 15 hits, including two home runs and three doubles.
The games for Friday are exacly as the seeds would predict except MOSE and Aurora turned the tournament topsy-turvy. MOSE and Aurora both won their openers, MOSE 14-7 over Concordia (Wisc.) and Aurora 9-2 over Benedictine, and then the upsets started. The Spartans surprised the top seeded Concordia-Chicago Cougars, 8-3, and the Engineers downed Marian 5-2. On Friday the two top seeds will face elimination while the upstarts are just a win from the championship game.
St. Scholastica entered the UMAC postseason tournament as the top seed, taking on the fifth-seeded UW-Superior Yellowjackets on day one of the three-day, double-elimination tournament. The Saints defended their home field well and proved their worthiness of the one seed, defeating Superior by a score of 19-4 at Wade Stadium. UW-Superior earned the start against the Saints with a 14-2 win over Northland in the play-in game. Bethany Lutheran will play the Saints after a 10-4 win over Northwestern (Minn.)
Jason Schulz drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to help fourth-seeded RIT (19-15-1) earn a 3-2 walk-off victory over No. 5 seed Rensselaer (19-21) in the Wild Card game of the 2018 Liberty League Tournament at Towers Field on the campus of Rochester. RIT, the defending Liberty League Champion, advances into the double-elimination tournament. The Tigers did not fare as well as Rochester defeated their crosstown rival 12-3 with the help of a big eighth inning, powering the Yellowjackets into the winners bracket of the double-elimination Liberty League Tournament at Towers Field. Rochester (17-15) sent a total of 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, answering RIT's two-run rally in the top half of the inning which cut the UR lead to just one.
Senior Hunter Hayes hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the sixth inning, sophomore Pierce Banks improved to 6-2 on the season and freshman Jordan Williams recorded a two-inning save as Adrian advanced to the MIAA Tournament championship day with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Alma. Hope made it two wins on the day, earning a date with Adrian on Friday. Hope eliminated Calvin, 5-4, and Alma, 5-3.
Baldwin Wallace's Evan Lovick set a school record for career victories as the third-seeded Yellow Jackets dominated second-seeded and nationally-ranked Marietta 19-5 in the teams' opening OAC Tournament game, hosted by Otterbein at Fishbaugh Field. BW (29-12 overall) scored a season-high 19 runs on a season-high tying 22 hits to defeat the 25th-ranked team in NCAA Division III and set a good tone to start the tournament. Baldwin Wallace will play top seeded Otterbein. The Cardinals defeated Ohio Northern 4-2.
The top-seeded Beacons advanced in the winner's bracket behind a 10-strikeout performance by JT Morin, and a three-run homer by Chris Fowler as they defeated the third-seeded Huskies of the University of Southern Maine 6-1 on day two of the Monan Park. The Huskies tournament hopes ended as their loss to UMass Boston was the second of the day after losing 7-3 to Rhode Island in the completion of a suspended game. In other Little East action, Plymouth State was eliminated by UMass Dartmouth 8-3 and Eastern Conn. State moved into the winners bracket final with a 10-5 win over Rhode Island.
Spalding won their SLIAC Tournament opener over Westminster, 7-3, at Robert E. Smith field in Greenville, Ill. The Golden Eagles improve to 31-10 on season and face the winner of #1 Webster vs. #2 Greenville tomorrow at 3:00 pm EST. Spading will meet Webster in the winners game after Webster doubled up Greenville, 14-7.