TROY, NY – After falling in a heartbreaking 13 innings a few hours earlier during the winners bracket, the University of Rochester baseball team stayed alive in the Liberty League Baseball Championship with a 10-5 victory over Union College on Friday evening at Robison Field at Karl Steffen Ballpark.
Rochester's offense broke out, pounding 16 total hits, leading to the 10-run effort, propelling the 'Jackets into the championship series for the fourth time in the last five conference tournaments.
Fourth-seeded UR (21-18) will battle second-seeded Ithaca, who defeated the Yellowjackets earlier on Friday, for the title on Saturday in the championship series. Rochester must defeat Ithaca twice to win the title in the double-elimination format.
In the Friday night contest, Union (29-12) struck first in the bottom of the first inning against 'Jacket starter Dillon Bevan. A one-out walk and wild pitch put the first runner in scoring position. Kobe Mentzler singled to center putting Union up 1-0. The next batter, Caleb Miller clubbed a 2-run home run to left field, and the Garnet Chargers were up three in the blink of an eye.
Bevan walked another Union hitter and also hit a batter later in the inning, but escaped further damage getting a pop out to end the inning.
Rochester had a big third inning to grab the lead, batting around to score four times. Colby Cruser, Jackson Reed and Dylan Stezzi all singled to load the bases. After a fly out, Sammy Besztery lifted a fly ball to right field that was misplayed by Union, allowing two runs to score.
Josh Leadem then stepped up and laced a single to center field to level the score. Two batters later, Leadem stole second in a first-and-third situation and Besztery scampered home when an errant throw on the steal attempt got away.
In the next two innings, Bevan settled in on the mound, posting back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, keeping the Yellowjackets in front. The senior right-hander finished the game after 4 innings, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits with 4 walks. He struck out two.
Union scraped a run across in the fifth, tying the game at 4-4 on an infield single from Kyle Zaslaw with two outs against reliever Sammy Rosenfield.
The Yellowjackets responded right away, regaining the lead with two runs in the sixth. Luke Gregory walked to leadoff the inning and was moved to second on a Matt Rieth sacrifice bunt. Cruser ripped a single to center to score Gregory, and after moving to second on the throw and third on a wild pitch, later scored when Reed singled back up the middle into center.
In the shutdown sixth inning, Rosenfield allowed two runners to reach, forcing the 'Jackets back to the bullpen for Matt Casiero. The UR lefty got out of the inning clean, keeping Rochester up 6-4 on the scoreboard.
The lead doubled in the next inning when Henry Jamieson left the yard with a 2-run blast to left field, one pitch after Leadem reached on a 1-out double.
Union used its second home run of the game, a solo shot from Sam Strazza in the seventh to cut into the lead.
The Garnet Charges ended up getting the bases loaded later in the inning thanks to a pair of singles and a walk, but new pitcher Justin Grossman kept the lead at three, escaping the jam.
UR's Dan Tirabassi got the run back in the eighth when Dan Tirabassi scored on a wild pitch. In the ninth, Cruser added another single and RBI to his box score to complete the scoring.
Grossman meanwhile was perfect over his final two innings of work, ending the game in style with a strikeout of Noah DiCaprio. The junior right-hander picked up his first career save in the effort.
Cruser finished 4-for-5 at the plate, driving in two and scoring twice. Reed and Besztery both were 3-for-5, while Jamieson was 2-for-5 with the home run, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Leadem added a pair of hits and inched a little closer to the UR all-time steals record, swiping the 87th base of his career.
Saturday's championship series begins at noon on Saturday at RPI's Robison Field.