RIT joins Rochester, Clarkson in advancing on Saturday

Suffolk opened its Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader against Wentworth in the win column as the Rams defeated the Leopards, 6-4, Saturday at East Boston Memorial Park. Suffulk won the nightcap 19-1.
Suffolk athletics photo

RIT opened Liberty League postseason play with a sweep at Bard, taking the first game, 5-3, before advancing to the Liberty League Tournament with a 6-2 victory in the second game, Saturday. In game one, RIT scored four runs in the third inning and then added one run in the fourth. Bard's rally fell short with three runs in the eighth. In game two's 6-2 victory, RIT and Bard traded runs in the second inning, but the Tigers had a three-run inning in the third and added another run in the fourth for a 5-1 lead. Both teams traded runs in the sixth to complete the game's scoring. Rochester and Clarkson also advanced. Rocherster shutting out RPI in both games, 12-0 and 1-0 and Clarkson brought out their bats with a 16-6 and 12-6 drubbing of Skidmore. The final team in the Liberty league double elimination tournament will be determined on Sunday. Ithaca lost their opener with Union 5-2 but won game two 7-3.

Utica University held off a strong comeback attempt by the Russell Sage Gators to win game three of the Empire 8 Tournament Semifinals, 11-7, and advance to its second consecutive conference championship. The Utica win started with a thrilling play by Joe Crossley and Matthew Fitzgerald. With a runner at third following a triple, Crossley made a catch on a shallow line drive and came up throwing to Fitzgerald on a one-hop off the pitchers mound and Fitzgerald slapped the tag and keep the game scoreless. The Pioneers used that momentum in their first at-bats, scoring five runs in the first three innings. Utica extened their lead to 9-3. and needed it as Sage plated four to draw closer. The Gators once again applied pressure in the ninth but solid Pioneer defense saved the win. Utica will travel to St. John Fisher for the best-of-three championship series that will begin on Friday. St. John Fisher College defeated fourth-seeded Elmira College, 14-2, on Saturday afternoon in a winner-take-all contest at Dugan Yard.

New England College is moving on to the New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship Series. Brady Philibotte's walk-off single sunk No. 2 seeded Mitchell College Mariners, 4-3, at Laurie Cox Memorial Field Saturday afternoon. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Luca Giallongo hit a one-out double to the left-center field and would score on Brady Philibotte's single through the left side of the infield, winning the game for the 'Grims. Mitchell punched its ticket to the title round with a 1-0 victory over third-seeded Eastern Nazarene College in the loser's bracket. Juan Abreu knocked in the game's only run with a single in the fourth inning, and pitchers Eddie Kaftan and Kevin Vining made the margin stand.

Senior right-handed pitcher Gavin Reily threw seven and a third innings of one run ball and senior catcher Zach DeMattio blasted a two-run home run tolead top-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) 3-1 over third-seeded Babson College this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Tournament at a cold, windy Sidell Stadium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The Lyons' 16th straight winis tied for the third-longest in the nation and also matches the third-longest stretch of success in school history, matching a streak from March 9-29, 2009. Wheaton will play for the NEWMAC Championship tomorrow at Sidell Stadium and will take on the winner of Babson and fifth-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who play the first game tomorrow. MIT was a 2-1 winner over number two seed Springfield College, earlier today.

Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (30-13) remained in contention in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament with elimination game victories over #2 Anna Maria College (23-17) and #5 Elms College (16-20) at Larry Mahaney Diamond on Saturday. With the two wins, Saint Joseph's advances to 'Championship Sunday' and will face #3 Johnson & Wales University. In order to clinch the GNAC title, the Monks would have to defeat the Wildcats – who are undefeated (2-0) in tourney play this week – twice. St. Joes's defeated Anna Maria 4-0 and Elms 12-1. In the bottom of the eighth in game one St. Joe's took advantage of three Anna Maria errors to tack on a pair of insurance runs and account for the 4-0 final score. For the AMCATS, the shutout loss was the team's first since they suffered a 7-0 setback at the hands of Johnson & Wales in a first-round matchup of the 2019 GNAC Tournament on May 1st, 2019 – a span of 79 games. The Monks put the day's second elimination game away early by scoring eight runs on eight hits and a pair of Elms errors.

After falling in game one on Saturday with a final score of 15-0, No. 3-seeded Trinity College took down No. 2 Hamilton College, 6-4 to force game three in the New England Small College Athletic Conference first round. The Bantams and Continentals will play the third game of the opening round series tomorrow with the winner advancing to Championship Weekend at Trinity College May 13-15. Middlebury and Tufts split their opening doubleheader, with Middlebury taking a narrow 4-3 win and falling 22-9 to the Jumbos in the nightcap. Amherst and Colby swept their games, advancing to the double elimination round.

The No. 3 seed Centenary (La.) advanced to the 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship game with a 12-8 victory over No. 1 seed Trinity on Saturday in the first semifinal contest at The Depot at Cleburne Station. Centenary (26-15) is back in the championship game for the first time since 2018 and fourth time in program history. The Diamond Gents, who won for the 12th time in 14 games, are now just one win away from clinching their second NCAA Tournament berth after winning the conference title and doing so in 2017. Trinity falls into the losers' bracket and will face No. 4 St. Thomas loser in an elimination game at approximately 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor split its 2022 American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament games today to advance to the blue bracket championship. Following a 10-0 loss to East Texas Baptist, the Cru bounced back with a 10-0 victory of their own over McMurry to advance to the championship round. The victory marks the first time UMHB has had multiple wins in the tournament since joining the American Southwest Conference. It also gave the Cru its first 25-win season under third-year head coach, Mike Stawski. UMHB will meet East Texas Baptist for the Blue Bracket championship. Belhaven emerged as the Red Bracket leader with a 7-1 win over Texs-Dallas. The Comets won their elimination contest with McMurry, a 9-8 winner in 12 innings over Le Tourneau to set up a Sunday rematch.

For the third time in seven full seasons, Bethel (Minn.)
team are MIAC regular season champions earning the
No. 1 seed in the MIAC Playoffs that begin Thursday at
CHS Field. The Royals were able to get the picture
perfect pile around the mound following a game one
sweep of Concordia, 4-0. The Royals completed the
senior day sweep with a 12-4 victory in game two
concluding the regular season 30-4 overall and 16-4
in MIAC play. BU opens up the MIAC Playoffs Thursday
at CHS Field against the No. 4 seed.
Bethel athletics photo

Huntington and William Peace won their elimination games but neither could force a second title game. NC Wesleyan University rode the arm of senior pitcher Kevin Williams as he tossed a 4-hit complete game to help the Bishops defeat #2 seed Huntingdon College 5-1 in the USA South Bracket 1 Finale from Bauer Field. Williams threw all nine innings allowing just one run on 4 hits while walking four and striking out four. La Grange handed William Peace a 11-6 loss in Bracket 2. La Grange and N.C. Wesleyan will meet in a best of three Championship series with the winner earning the USA South playoff bid and the loser looking for one of 18 at-large bids.

Washington & Jefferson used strong pitching and timely hitting to secure a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep at Westminster College Saturday afternoon. W&J took game one 3-0 before securing a 5-3 victory in game two. Jameson Campbell was the story in game one. He improved his record to 9-1 with a dominant two-hit shutout of the Titans. Campbell struck out nine and walked three in the 117-pitch effort. The nine wins are the most by a PAC pitcher this season. W&J overcame an early deficit to secure the sweep of Westminster in game two. The Titans pushed two runs across in the first and another in the second to take a 3-0 lead. However, the Presidents used a four-run third inning to take the lead for good.

Photo gallery: St. Scholastica vs. Hamline: Game one | Game two
Photo gallery: Aurora vs. Concordia (Wis.): Game one | Game two

Case Western Reserve University wrapped up its 2022 regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader against the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. The Spartans won the opening game of the twin bill 5-2, before suffering a 5-4 loss in the second game. The Spartans ended their regular season with a record of 23-17, while the Purple Raiders stand at 21-16 for the campaign. The Spartans scored five unanswered runs to overcome an early deficit in the opening game of the doubleheader and defeat Mount Union 5-2. The Spartans attempted a late comeback in the second game, but ultimately fell short in a 5-4 loss to the Purple Raiders.

Eighth ranked Webster University was back in action this afternoon when they played host to the Eureka College Red Devils for a SLIAC doubleheader. The Gorloks swept the doubleheader as they won the first game by a final score of 15-4 and the second game by a final score of 9-5 to improve to 33-6 on the season and 17-2 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. With the sweep, the Gorloks have captured their 15th straight SLIAC Regular Season Title and the top see in the 2022 SLIAC Baseball Tournament.

No. 7 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater clinched the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship outright Saturday with a pair of close victories at UW-Platteville. The Warhawks (33-6 overall, 25-3 WIAC), who will host next week's WIAC Tournament, defeated the Pioneers 7-3 in 12 innings in Game 1 before rallying over the final two innings in the nightcap for a 7-4 triumph. In the opener, UW-Platteville (12-21, 10-16) hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. UW-Whitewater left three runners on combined in the 10th and 11th frames before touching home plate four times in the 12th. After Max Huseboe struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, UW-W took the lead thanks to DeMeyer's run-scoring single to left and a two-run base hit to left by third baseman Matt Korman.

Pomona-Pitzer clinched a spot in the 2022 SCIAC Postseason Tournament with their split doulbeheader against CMS with a 16-5 win and a 10-0 loss on Saturday afternoon at Arce Field. The Sagehens were led by Isaac Kim who went 2-3 with five RBI's and three runs scored. Caleb Millikan went 3-5 while Jack Damelio, Kevin Lo, and Ryan Nishi all registered multi-hit games in the win. Jake Hilton got the start and the win for the Sagehens after he went six innings with two runs surrendered and seven strikeouts while Eric Prough came in for one inning of relief work. CMS took the early lead in game two after the Sagehens got into a little trouble with the bases loaded. A hit batter with the bases loaded plated the first run for CMS and after and RBI single and a wild pitch, the Stags took a 3-0 lead. CMS added on in the third and fourth inning with a two-run homerun in the third and a two-RBI single in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead over the Sagehens. CMS ended the day with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the series from the Sagehens with a 10-0 win.

Franklin College claimed the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title and top seed in next week's conference tournament with a sweep of the Hanover Panthers in their final games of the regular season. The Grizzlies finish the regular season with a 28-12 record and a 13-5 record in conference play, winning the league's regular season crown for the first time since 2018. Franklin took the lead in the opener with a three-run eighth and two more runs in the ninth to make it a 9-5 game. Hanover would bring the tying run to the plate in the final inning, but Alex Reinoehl nailed down the final out for his 10th save of the year, becoming the first Grizzly pitcher to record double-digit saves in a season. Demkovich got the party started with a two-run home run in the first inning, giving him 19 for the year. Up by a run in the fifth, the Grizzlies tacked on four more runs with Earley, Tysen Lipscomb and Noah Wood all driving runs home to make it a 6-1 game. Hanover plated three in the fifth to get back within a pair, but the Grizzlies rode back-to-back home runs from Case Starkey and Sanders to put the game out of reach.

Cortland reached the 30-win mark after completing its regular-season schedule with a doubleheader sweep over New Paltz, 18-3 and 12-3. The games were originally scheduled to be played at New Paltz but were moved to a neutral field at SUNY Oneonta due to weather and field conditions at New Paltz. Cortland (30-10, 15-3 SUNYAC), ranked 13th nationally in Division III, has won 30 or more games each of the last 17 seasons (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season) and 27 times in the last 28 complete seasons. The Red Dragons will be the second seed in next week's four-team, double-elimination SUNYAC tournament. Oswego will be the top seed and tournament host, while Brockport is the third seed and Plattsburgh is the fourth seed. The tournament begins Thursday with Oswego playing Plattsburgh at noon and Cortland facing Brockport.

Needing only one win to clinch its second straight North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, No. 20 nationally-ranked Denison University did so with a 9-3 win in game one at Wabash College on Saturday afternoon. Then in game two, the Big Red offense exploded for 21 hits in a 19-5 victory to earn their 18th win in their last 19 games with only one game remaining in the regular season. Denison (29-8 overall, 16-2 NCAC) finished with its most conference wins in a single season in program history while Wabash (20-17), which started the season 12-2 overall and was receiving votes in all four D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 polls during the month of March before losing its first eight conference games of the year, is now 4-14 in the conference.

Saint John's (Minn.) completed its regular-season schedule with a sweep of Augsburg, 9-4 and 5-1, on Saturday in Collegeville. With the wins, SJU (23-15, 15-5 MIAC) locked up the No. 2 seed in this week's double-elimination MIAC Tournament and plays third-seeded Gustavus Adolphus at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at CHS Field in St. Paul. The Johnnies batted .365 (23-for-63) with six doubles and two home runs on the afternoon, while the pitching staff limited Augsburg (14-23, 6-14 MIAC) to a .200 average (12-for-60). The reigning MIAC Player of the Week, senior right fielder Soren Roe went 4-for-8 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI. He is now batting .555 (15-for-27) with 25 RBI, six doubles and three homers over his last seven games. Junior first baseman Max Nyrop extended his hit streak to 17 games and on-base streak to 21 games by going 3-for-8 with a double. He batting .400 (26-for-65) with six doubles, five home runs, 25 RBI and 20 runs scored during the 17-game hit streak.

Chatham University sent out its seniors on home soil in successful fashion, splitting with Waynesburg and setting the program record for wins in a year. The Cougars lost game one 5-2 and won the second contest 5-1, putting Chatham's overall record at 13-24 and conference mark at 5-21. Both games got off to successful starts for Chatham. Chatham outhit Waynesburg 11-9 but were undone by a couple of defensive lapses in the opener. Paulson went 3/3 at the plate, while Cuello, DeLuca and Lehman each hit a pair of knocks. The hits and errors were flip-flopped between the two games, with the Cougars getting outhit 11-9 but being aided by two Jacket errors in the record win.

Fitchburg State University split a doubleheader with the Rams of Framingham State this afternoon in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference action from Riccards Field on senior day as the Falcons took the opener 8-7 before the Rams collected an 8-1, game two triumph. In the opener, Framingham State would cut the deficit to 8-7 in the top of the seventh with junior Robert Johnston and sophomore Ryan Boyle registering RBI's, but Falcon hurler Jovanni Merced induced a game ending fly out, resulting in the 8-7 final. The visitors secured the split in game two. The Rams broke the contest open, scoring six runs as Robert Johnston and Ethan Moniz plated a pair of runs each, while Chris Iannetta and Kennedy Wilson added runs scoring singles.

Playing its best baseball of the season, Carthage College (14-25, 7-11 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) swept a doubleheader from No. 11 and CCIW-champion North Central College (29-10, 13-4), 9-1 and 6-4, at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville, Ill. The twinbill ended the Firebirds' conference schedule, with Carthage not qualifying for the CCIW Baseball Tournament. Carthage ends its season on Sunday, May with a Noon non-conference game against Ripon College at Francis Field in Ripon, Wis. North Central concludes its regular-season schedule on Monday, May 9 with a home game against Illinois Wesleyan University before playing host to the May 11-14 CCIW Baseball Tournament. "Take away the three or four league games that we flat out gave away, and we'd be right in the hunt," said Schmidt. "I am so excited about this freshman class," concluded Schmidt. "We played the last half of the year with freshmen all over the place. We felt like it was time to bring in a big class and kind of grow up together. Everyone is committed to this, and we knew there were going to be growing pains. I thought we could compete a little better, but this was a hard year to be so young, with so many fifth-year players in the league. We showed some fight at the end, and that's a good way to end any season."

No. 16 UW-Stevens Point (31-7, 22-6) split on the final day of the regular season at UW-Oshkosh (21-16, 15-11). The Pointers dropped game one, 10-7, before taking the regular season finale and game two by an 8-5 final. Aaron Simmons hit a home run in each game to make it 36 for his career, tying him for second in school history. He had two hits in each game with five RBI and two runs scored. Logan Matson also had a pair of hits in each game. He drove in three and scored three times. Lucas Luedtke added four hits with Matt Baumann, Quin Henwood, Payton Nelson and Bradley Comer all contributing multiple hits on the day.

MSOE celebrated their six seniors and closed out the regular season when they hosted St. Norbert at MSOE Raiders Stadium. The Red & White scored in bunches and sent themselves into the postseason with a sweep, 21-3 and 14-2, of the Green Knights on Saturday. Sometimes pregame ceremonies get in the way and throw players off their game. MSOE (23-16, 18-6 NACC) didn't fall into this trap and absolutely demolished their opponents from St. Norbert (17-17, 14-10 NACC) in game one. The Red & White kept pouring it on in game two, scoring 14 runs in the first three innings of play. Their streak of 10 straight frames of a runner crossing home plate was snapped in the fourth, but MSOE had more than enough runs to coast to victory. Hall, Labedz, and Josh Beier each registered three RBIs in the contest. The Raiders will finish no worse than third in the regular season standings, their second-best NACC finish since they joined the conference back in 2007.