April 30, 2017

Record setting Sunday for RIT

More news about: Mount Union | Rochester Tech
Mount Union swept Wilmington 12-1 and 9-5 to clinch a share of their first OAC regular season championship iin the D-III era and will host the OAC tournament in two weeks.
Mount Union athletics photo

No. 23 ranked Mount Union clinched its first OAC regular season title with 12-1 and 9-5 wins Sunday at Wilmington. The Purple Raiders now 27-8 overall finish its OAC season at 16-2 to win the regular season title for the first time since 1970 and host the four-team OAC Tournament in Alliance. Sophomore right hander Phil Mary allowed just one run on four hits over 6.0 innings to go to 9-0 on the season in the opener. Noah Skladan allowed just two earned runs over the first five innings in the nightcap to get the win and move to 5-2 on the season while Mitch McCristall went the final 4.0 innings for his second save of the season. With a split with John Carroll, Marietta secured the No. 2 seed in the OAC tournament.  The Pioneers won game one, 11-5, and dropped the nitecap, 10-9.

Senior pitcher Stewart Braman got the start on senior day for Rhode Island College and did not disappoint. Braman hurled a complete game, two-hitter to lead Rhode Island College past Brandeis, 2-1, at Anchorman Field.

The 2017 SAA Tournament saw much of this weekend's action wiped out by rain and cause alterations to the schedule. In Birmingham, the semifinal game between host Birmingham-Southern and Berry had to be suspended in the 6th inning of play with the Panther's leading 4-2. Action will resume on Monday at 6:15 pm CT. In Memphis, the tournament was forced into a single-elimination setting due to the steady downpour. Rhodes, who was 2-0 in the tourney and the highest seed entering the weekend when the downpour began, advances to the best two-out-of-three championship against the winner of BSC and Berry.

Lesley took the season series from Becker for the second time in program history with a 5-4 victory in the rubber game on Sunday. Junior right-hander Jeff Heinz earned his first win of the year tossing three scoreless innings of relief. Classmate, right-hander Tom Muratore picked up his first save of the season closing out the last 1.1 innings allowing one unearned run while striking out one.

Yeshiva picked up a pair of wins over Vaughn on Senior Day, at Ridgefield Park. The Maccabees won game one, 24-8, while taking game two by a score of 13-2. With 24 runs in game one, the Macs set a new program record for total runs in a single game. The previous mark was 21 runs in Yeshiva's win over Vaughn last season.

The four-game series between the No. 20-ranked Washington (Mo.) and New York University was washed out but the Bears came away with a win nevertheless. Washington was crowned the 2017 UAA champions with a following an 8-2 mark in league play. The UAA title for Washington is its third-straight and seventh in school history. Washington joins Case Western, Emory and New York University to see if they will get an invite to the NCAA playoffs. Two bids are available to prigrams without access to a automatic bid and are all regionally ranked in the first rankings released last Thursday.

Down to its final out and final strike, Elizabethtown got its biggest hit of the year when sophomore Mike Christy drove a 1-2 pitch out to left for a walk-off grand slam to win game two, 4-3, and give the Blue Jays a sweep of Juniata. Elizabethtown held off the pesky Eagles, 5-3, in game one and thanks to Christy's heroics, the Jays will go into next weekend's makeup series against Drew controlling their postseason destiny.

Immaculata stayed atop the CSAC standings with Keystgone and the top seed in the CSAC tournament will be decided next week when the Mighty Macs meet the Giants for a three game series.
Immaculata athletics photo

Nick DeRitis and Liam Sullivan combined for a four-hit shutout in game one to highlight a doubleheader split with Immaculata as the Griffins took game one, 5-0, but fell in the nightcap, 8-5. In the second game, Immaculata junior pitcher Eddie Decker tied Ryan Blough with his sixth win of the season as he went the distance and allowed four earned runs while striking out two and scattering nine hits.

Hood won the opener against Marymount 11-5 before falling 10-4 in the nightcap. The split gave the Blazers a 20-20 record to climb to .500 in just the program's third season. Cam Esposito reached base five times in game one via three hits and a walk. For the day, he was 4 for 6 with three bases on balls.

SUNY Maritime collected a program-record 25 hits as the Privateers made-up a rain out with the St. Joseph's (Bklyn) Bears. The Privateers used those 25 hits to score a season-high 21 runs to run away with a 21-6 win. Twelve different Privateers had at least one RBI on the day, while eight players had multi-hit afternoons.

Endicott swept Suffolk by scores of 10-3 and 6-3 in a non-conference doubleheader on Senior Day. Prior to today's pair of games, 11 seniors and graduate students were recognized for their contributions towards the baseball program and the Endicott Community. Endicott exploded for four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back in game one against the Rams. In game two, Eric Nagle collected the victory out of the pen in game two behind 2.1 innings, two hits, one run (earned), and two walks.

Pacific snapped an eight-game losing streak in a 7-2 win over Pacific Lutheran at Chuck Bafaro Stadium in Forest Grove. The Boxers, who honored its eight seniors prior to its game against the Lutes on Satuday, pounded out 11 hits with three-different Boxers have multiple hits in the win. Senior Josh Keithly went 2-for-3 with a career-high four RBI to lead an 11-hit attack. Also with two hits were sophomore Eli Wisdom and junior Dylan Wright

Rochester and Rensselaer split a Liberty League doubleheader, with the host Yellowjackets taking game one 4-0, before RPI stole a walk-off win in game two by a 6-5 score. Game one saw UR's Jack Denzer dazzle on the mound, throwing a complete game, 4-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks.  He needed just 77 pitches to complete the win, his second of the year. In game two, RPI's Ethann Meister cracked a solo home run to left center to break a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning, sending RPI home with a win in the final game of the four game set.

Senior left-hander Tyler Leavitt combined with three relievers to give Southern Maine a strong pitching performance as the Huskies defeated Western New England 4-1 in non-conference at newly named Ed Flaherty Field. Prior to the start of the game, Southern Maine renamed the baseball field Ed Flaherty Field in honor of its long-time head coach now in his 32nd season.  Members of the 1997 USM national championship team were also honored over the weekend on the 20th anniversary of their winning the national title. The win was the third straight, and 18th in the last 19 games, for the Huskies.

RIT's pitching staff has an incredible 2.35 earned run average in Liberty League play this season.
Rochester Tech athletics photo

Rochester Tech set a single season school record for wins and clinched its first Liberty League regular season title by winning a pair of games over St. Lawrence from Tiger Stadium. RIT took game one, 8-0 and game two, 5-0. The Tigers extended their Liberty League winning streak to 15 games. Overall, the Tigers have won 18 of their last 19 games. RIT's school record 25th victory came in just its 32nd game. RIT previously won 24 games in both 2006 (24-16) and 2007 (24-12). RIT recorded its second and third consecutive shutouts, setting a school record. RIT shutout its opponent in both ends of a doubleheader for the first time since joining the Liberty League in 2012. Overall, RIT has four shutouts on the season, all in the last week.

Senior Michael Houdek worked a complete game to move into the top 10 in program history in wins, while sophomore Michael Wielansky clubbed a pair of home runs on the day as fifth-ranked Wooster baseball team continued to roll in NCAC East Division play with an 11-1 and 17-7 sweep over Hiram on "Senior Day" at Art Murray Field.

Linfield starters Riley Newman and Carter Buuck turned in a pair of dominating, double-digit strikeout performances on the mound and six seniors got one win in their final appearances at Roy Helser Field as the playoff-bound Wildcats split a doubleheader against George Fox. Both games were decided in the final inning as the hosts got a 3-2 walk-off victory before falling 6-5 in the nightcap via the Bruins' ninth-inning comeback. Linfield registered its fourth 30-win season of the past five seasons in improving to 30-13 on the season with more games yet to play.

Trailing defending conference regular season and tournament champion Rose-Hulman 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth of a series finale at Gratz Field, Manchester freshman designated hitter Joe Gallatin stepped to the dish and sent a long fly ball to right field that cleared the top row of bleachers for a two-run home run and a 6-5 lead. Manchester added a single tally in the sixth and then had Mother Nature step in for assistance in the top of the seventh to ensure a memorable Senior Weekend. The Fightin' Engineers took a 8-7 lead in the following inning but a steady rain washed out the scores giving the Spartans a 7-5 decision.

No. 19 Washington & Jefferson clinched the number one spot in the upcoming Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament with a 17-0 win over Saint Vincent. The Presidents will host the PAC tournament at Ross Memorial Park on Thursday-Saturday, May 11-13. It will be the first time W&J has hosted the league's championship event since 2014. The win extends their streak of shut-out games to four. The Presidents have eight shutoouts on the season with six games left to play. The record for shutouts in a season is 14 by Marietta in 2013 with the last time a team has double digit shutouts was 2014.