The University of Rochester split a pair of games on Friday afternoon at the Liberty League Championship, advancing to Saturday's Championship round.
Top-seeded Rochester fell in a winners bracket game against #2 seed Union 3-1, before winning 8-4 against RIT in an elimination game. It was the sixth time in the last week that Rochester and RIT had met, and the second time in as many days in the tournament.
UR moves to 18-16 on the season. Union's record sits at 29-10, while RIT ends its season at 20-17-1 after topping Vassar 11-4 in a losers bracket elimination contest earlier in the day on Thursday.
GAME ONE (vs Union)
Rochester's opening game against Union was a classic pitchers duel between UR senior Luke Meyerson and Union senior Bill Christopher. The contest ended in a tidy one hour and fifty minutes.
Meyerson tossed a 9-inning complete game, a new career-high for innings pitched and allowed just six hits and three runs. He walked four while striking out a career-high tying nine batters.
Christopher meanwhile, went eight plus innings, allowed five hits and one run while walking one and striking out two. Union's Colin Nye came in and got the final three outs of the game to earn the save.
Offensively, Union mustered all its runs in the opening frame before Meyerson could settle in. Jack Koch led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt, Jake Vesling singled and Colin Kelly walked to load the bases. Sean Cullen then delivered with a 2-run single to right, opening the scoring. The next batter, Sam Kirschenbaum then grounded out to first, scoring the third Dutchmen run of the inning.
After that, Meyerson got into a rhythm, holding the high powered Union offense off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Entering Saturday, Union was hitting over .350 as a team, ranking near the top of NCAA Division III in that category.
Rochester was able to threaten in the bottom of the third inning, getting two runners on with two outs, but a flyout ended the scoring chance.
In the fourth, the Yellowjackets were able to scrape a run across home plate. Jack Herman doubled to center leading off the inning. The next batter, first year Steve Pickering, then lined a hard grounder up the middle to score the run, making the score 3-1.
UR thought they had a chance to rally in the ninth, when Aiden Finch doubled to center, sending the tying run to the plate. Herman followed with a line drive to right which was caught at the shoe tops by Union's Harrison Glatt. Finch tagged moving to third, but was called out after the Dutchmen appealed to second, claiming he had left the base early. The final out was Pickering who chopped a grounder out to the catcher.
The Yellowjackets David Rieth ended 1-2 in the game, but reached base three times after getting hit by a pitch and drawing a walk. For Union, Cullen finished 3-4 with two RBI and Vesling was 2-4 with a run scored.
GAME TWO (vs RIT)
In the nightcap, Rochester was able to scratch and claw runs in six of its eight innings at bat, slowly building a comfortable lead, one which was needed after the Tigers pushed across three runs in the ninth inning, closing the final margin.
Finch provided the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly, flying out to right with runners on second and third. Tyler Schmidt led off the game with a single and David Rieth then ripped a ground rule double to left, putting UR in the excellent scoring opportunity. Herman then grounded out, driving in Rieth to give the Yellowjackets to quick 2-0 lead just four batters into the game.
In the second, Jake Hertz led off with a line drive single to left. Kyle Trombley followed with a high chopped single to right putting runners on the corners. Aaron Craig then provided his third sac fly of the tournament, scoring Hertz to make it 3-0 UR.
Rochester got another run in the third when Hertz singled to left again, driving in Herman who started the rally with a two-out single.
RIT was able to scrape one across in the fourth on a Benjamin Terzini single through the left side. His hit drove in Joey Mylott who led off the inning with a single.
The Yellowjackets grabbed that run right back in the bottom of the fourth though. Rieth grounded out to short, scoring Corey Ziring who reached via walk and moved to third on a Schmidt double to left center.
UR finally was held off the scoreboard in the fifth, but added to the lead in the sixth. Trombley walked to lead off the inning and quickly moved to second on his 25th stolen base of the season. After a groundout moved him to third, Ziring hit a hard grounder straight back up the middle for the RBI.
Rochester tacked on two additional runs in the bottom of the seventh. Pickering laced a single to left to score Finch and another run crossed home when Craig reached on an RIT throwing error.
The visiting Tigers were finally able to tag starting pitcher Jack Denzer for a couple hits in a row in the ninth inning, leading to three runs, but for the second time in six days, the UR junior finished out a complete game against his teams crosstown rivals. RIT's Navada Waterman provided the big hit, speeding around the bases for a 2-run inside the park homer.
Denzer finished the game giving up 11 hits and four runs in the 9-inning effort, walking one and striking out three. RIT's Stevie Branche took the loss, yielding seven runs on nine hits and four walks in six innings of work. Branche finished with four strikeouts.
Herman ended game two 3-5 with a double and two runs. Finch and Hertz were both 2-4 with a run and RBI while Schmidt went 2-5 with a double and run scored.
The win advances Rochester to the championship round where they must defeat Union in back-to-back games on Saturday to claim the league tournament title. It is UR's first appearance in the championship round since 2014. Saturday's first contest is slated for noon, with the second game started 30 minutes after the first game finishes, if necessary.