April 27, 2013

Teams continue to lock in seeding on Saturday

More news about: SUNY-Old Westbury
The Lyons put the game away with a six-run inning, punctuated by a Sean Ryan two-run double to left field.
Wheaton (Mass.) athletics photo

Top-seeded Wheaton (Mass.) used a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to clinch an opening round 7-5 triumph over fourth-seeded Coast Guard Academy in game one of the NEWMAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Sidell Stadium. The Lyons followed this up with a 11-8 win over MIT who defeated Babson 8-2 earlier. Wheaton will host the final rounds with MIT and Babson next weekend.

Bridgewater (Va.) is the lone undefeated team left at the ODAC tournament after the Eagles put away Randolph-Macon College, 6-2, in a battle of undefeated teams. Once again, pitching made the difference for the Eagles as senior Joseph Lucas turned in the third straight quality start for Bridgewater in this year's tournament. Bridgewater moves into the Championship game against Randolph-Macon, a 2-1 winner over Hampden-Sydney in the final elimination game of the tournament

Thomas More swept Saint Vincent in a PAC doubleheader at Thomas More Field in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The Saints won game one, 9-6, and the nightcap, 5-2. At the plate for Thomas More, David Etscheid led the team at the plate as he was 4-for-4 with thee runs batted-in and a run scored.

Benedictine slugged 38 hits on the way to 27 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Lakeland. The first contest lasted just seven innings as Benedictine scored seven runs in the sixth and four in the seventh to break open a close contest in a 13-2 win. Game two went the distance as the Eagle starter, Pat Cashman, pitched seven shutout innings and the Benedictine offense continued to pile on runs.

Salem State, swept a doubleheader over the Fitchburg State Falcons to clinch their first MASCAC regular season title since 2006. Salem State will now host the MASCAC Baseball Tournament at the Central Campus Baseball Field next weekend.

Birmingham-Southern continued its march in the inaugural SAA Championship at Striplin Field with a 10-1 victory over Berry. With the win, the Panthers are now one win away from next weekend's best-of-three championship series to determine the winner of the conference championship crown. On Sunday, the Panthers will play Rhodes, a 6-3 winner over Berry. At Millsaps, Hendrix scored seven in the ninth to erase a Majors' eighth inning comeback and steal the game 13-8 in the SAA tournament. Hendrix advances to tomorrow's championship series finale.

Alex DiSanto recorded his 11th and 12th saves of the season on Saturday.
Old Westbury photo by Eugene Walsh

Old Westbury swept the visiting Purchase Panthers to earn the No. 2 seed, including an opening round bye in the upcoming Skyline Championship Tournament. Old Westbury took the opener, 4-1, and a 3-2 win in the finale and sent Purchase into the No. 3 seed.  Old Westbury now has a nine game winning streak.

Texas Lutheran pitching held the potent offense of East Texas Baptist without an earned run over two games and clinched a playoff series victory over the Tigers with a 3-1 win Saturday at Katt-Isbel Field. Louisiana College advanced to face Texas Lutheran with a series win over Mary Hardin Baylor. Concordia (Texas) and Texas-Tyler finished their series without a loss and will face each other in the ASC final four double elimination tournament at Texas-Tyler.

Pedro Aldape went 2-for-5 with three RBI, Victor Munoz was 3-for-4 with three RBI and Occidental cruised past Caltech 10-3 at Anderson Field in the first of its four remaining regular-season single games. Alec Strain got the start and the victory for the Tigers, which came into the day just a half game back of Redlands for the No. 3 seed. Strain gave up two earned runs in six innings of work, striking out two batters.

Trinity (Texas) moved into the SCAC championship game with a 4-3 win in 11 innings over Centernary (La.). The Tigers evened the score at 3-3 with a home run by Chris Bianchi and scored the game winner on a single by Christian Muscarello.

Endicott combined to score 38 runs, including a game-record 23 in game two as they swept Salve Regina in their final CCC regular season games at Cardines Field. The Gulls won the first game 15-2, then used a 13-run fifth inning to score a 23-3 victory in the second half of the twin-bill. Endicott has now won seven straight games and 12 of their last 13 to clinch a share of the CCC regular season title.

Pacific and Pacific Lutheran opened their final NWC series of the season with a pair of polar opposite games with the Boxers and Lutes splitting the twinbill at Chuck Bafaro Stadium. Starters Rob Dittrick and Max Beatty put together a brilliant pitcher's duel in the opener with both pitchers allowing just five hits apiece.  The Lutes used back-to-back two out doubles in the fourth to score the game's only run as the Lutes prevailed 1-0.  In the nightcap, Pacific took a 6-2 lead into the top of the ninth, but PLU rallied to score four runs in the frame to send the contest into extra innings.  The Boxers, however, won it in the most unusual of ways as Trux French took a bases loaded hit by pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 10th to take the 7-6 victory.

Denison clinched the NCAC West-Division NCAC Championship, splitting a doubleheader with Oberlin. Oberlin took a 6-4 victory in game two With Denison taking the opener, 10-9 in nine innings. Obelin tied a school record with their 18th win of the season.

Chris Cutrone allowed only two hits after the first inning as the Bears took the nightcap, breaking the school's win record.
St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) athletics photo

St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) set a new school-record with their 19th win of the season as they split a doubleheader with SUNY Canton falling in game one, 9-8, before taking the nightcap, 3-1. The Bears break the school-record of 18 wins set last season and end a two-game losing streak while SUNY Canton see their four-game winning streak come to an end.

With each team needing wins to qualify for the 2013 CCC Baseball Tournament, Wentworth Tech and Curry split a doubleheader on the final day of the conference schedule. Wentworth took the first game by a 9-1 score while Curry prevailed, 2-0, in the nightcap. Both teams, along with Gordon, finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference standings. The Leopards will be seeded fifth and will travel to second-seeded Endicott for a first-round game. The Colonels are the number six seed and will be at top-seeded Western New England.

After finding themselves on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel in the opener, Allegheny rallied with runs in the ninth and tenth innings in the nightcap to split a key NCAC doubleheader with Wooster. In the day's first game, Allegheny mustered just one run on three hits, falling 2-1. The Gators rebounded to score a comeback win in the nightcap, scoring once in the bottom of the ninth to tie it before winning 6-5 on a walk-off, unearned run in the bottom of the tenth.

Four pitchers combined to allow just four runs over the course of a doubleheader between Clarkson and Rensselaer, as Bryan Chudy outdueled Mike Campisi for a 1-0 extra-inning victory in the opener while Jarrod Mattingly came up short in a 3-0 loss to Sean Conray at Jack Phillips Stadium.