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| The UW-Superior Yellowjackets needed one win in the three-game series to guarantee a finish in the top two in the UMAC regular season standings, and they took care of business right away on that front, taking the opening game Friday 6-4. In the second game the Yellowjackets squandered a 3-1 lead and were upended by the Polars, 4-3. With the win in the opener the Yellowjackets (20-12, 16-4 UMAC) are now virtually locked into the No. 2 seed for the UMAC tournament. They could potentially still win the conference by way of owning the tiebreaker over Bethany Lutheran, but they would need the Vikings to lose at least once in their weekend series against North Central. UW-Superior athletics photo by Holden Law |
Wisconsin Lutheran College's Ryan Dominick became the program's career hits leader as the Warriors split a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader with St. Norbert on Friday at Larry Van Alstine Field. The Green Knights took the opener 8-4 before WLC held on for a 5-4 win in the nightcap. SNC (12-26, 6-16 NACC) used a five-run first inning to jump ahead of Wisconsin Lutheran in the opener. St. Norbert tallied a two-out single followed by a grand slam for the early advantage, one they would maintain to the final out. Dominick, who broke the career hits record in his first at-bat with a single down the left field line, finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. In game two, the Warriors tacked on three runs in the seventh for the 5-0 advantage. St. Norbert made things interesting in the ninth with a grand slam with nobody out. Sophomore Jaime Miner (Erie, Ill.) was called upon in relief to retire two of the three batters he faced, stranding the tying run at third base. Dominick once again led WLC at the plate by going 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs, and two walks.
Junior pitcher Terry Murray hurled seven scoreless innings as Rhode Island College completed a doubleheader sweep vs. Plymouth State with an 8-0 shutout in Little East baseball action played at Pontarelli Field on Friday afternoon. The Anchormen's 15-1 mark in Little East play is a new program record for a single season. It was the regular season finale for both clubs. Murray allowed just four hits, struck out seven and secured his eighth win (8-1). Senior Colin Gauthier struck out three in two scoreless innings of relief. In game one, senior pitcher Shaun Gamelin allowed three hits and struck out 13 as Rhode Island College clinched the outright Little East Regular Season Championship with a 10-0 (seven innings) win over Plymouth State at Pontarelli Field on Friday afternoon.
Third-seeded Montclair State (26-9, 12-6 NJAC) defeated fourth-seeded William Paterson (25-14, 12-6 NJAC) 9-2 in the first round of the double-elimination New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament. Montclair State added to their lead in the fourth, tacking on five runs with the big hit coming off the bat of Jason Moore. Moore hit the team's second homer of the inning, a three-run shot to make it 8-0. The Pioneers dug into the lead with a solo run in the fifth before adding an additional tally in the seventh. The Red Hawks re-established the seven-run cushion during their turn at the dish in the seventh following a towering solo homer by Joe Gisonda. That would be all the Red Hawks would need, as Chris Lum allowed just one hit over the final 2 2/3 to close out the win.
SCAC Player-of-the-Year Tyler Post had two home runs and eight runs batted in as the junior led top-seeded Texas Lutheran to a 10-5 come-from-behind victory over fourth-seeded Southwestern in the opening game of the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship on Friday afternoon. Southwestern jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but TLU battled back with two of its own in the bottom half of the inning before Post's grand slam in the second gave the Bulldogs the lead for good. In the second game, Trinty (Texas) defeated Centenary (La.) 5-3.
New England College opened New England Collegiate Conference Tournament play with a 10-7 victory over No. 2 Eastern Nazarene College on Friday afternoon in New London, Connecticut. NEC starting pitcher Cameron earned the win as he threw seven and one-third innings while allowing six earned runs and striking out 11 Lions. O'Day entered the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, getting the 'Grims out of a jam before dominating the bottom of the ninth. He ended with a line of one and one-third innings and three strikeouts. Mitchell senior Dougie DelaCruz belted a walkoff solo home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday afternoon, powering the top-seeded Mariners past fourth-seeded Lesley 3-2 in the opening game of the NECC tournament. DelaCruz, who finished 3-5 with one RBI and one run scored, found himself behind in the count 1-2 before jumping on an inside breaking ball delivered by Lesley junior Logan Watts, sending the ball soaring over the left field fence. Up until that moment, the Lynx had battled with the Mariners over the first eight and a half innings, proving to be a much tougher out than in any of their four meetings so far this spring, in which Mitchell outscored Lesley 28-7.
Birmingham-Southern defeated Berry to book their place in the SAA Conference Tournament Championship Game. After trailing late, the Panthers battled back and won 5-4 on a walk-off single. Ian Hancock delivered in the bottom of the eighth. He hit a clutch home run to right center field to tie the game 4-4 heading into the ninth inning. Davis Williams came in to pitch for BSC in the ninth and was excellent retiring all three batters he faced. In the bottom of the ninth with one out and runners at first and second base, Will Lantis went up to the plate and hit a hard ground ball up the middle to score Luke DePiero and walk it off for the Panthers. His RBI single gave the Panthers a 5-4 win and a spot in the championship game. Millsaps split a pair of games in the SAA Championship Weekend at Striplin Field on Friday. The Majors opened the day with a thrilling 3-2 victory over No. 2 seed Centre before falling to No. 3 seed Berry, 12-2 in the SAA Championship Semifinal. In the win over Millsaps, Berry stormed out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back. Nick Brunswick had one of the more unique box score lines of the season for the Vikings, going 1-for-4 with four runs scored as he reached twice on errors. The first time he reached via miscue was on a throwing error that allowed Zachary Hardee to score the first run of the game. Wesley Maxey started his 3-for-3 night at the plate with a single to plate Brunswick, while Levi Cloud's single to left plated Wesley Wade with the first of the senior's three runs scored on the night.
In the first round of the 2023 NEWMAC Tournament, No. 4 seeded MIT used a 15-hit offensive attack and excellent pitching to come away with a 14-2 victory over No. 5 seeded Springfield. The Engineers now advance to the double-elimination of the tournament, which is being held this weekend at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. MIT took control of the game in the fourth as they pounded out nine hits and scored 10 runs to go in front big at 11-1. The Engineers had four extra-base hits in the frame, including RBI doubles to right center from junior Teddy Schoenfeld and senior Graham Cartwright. MIT finished the scoring in the inning with back-to-back home runs by Zev Moore and junior Kennan Gumbs to push the margin to 10-1. The Engineers added single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, while the pitching duo of senior Matt Leonard and first-year Chase Rubin held the Pride to just two runs on the day.
Covenant and Huntingdon posted crucial wins during Day Three of the 2023 Collegiate Conference of the South Championship as rain altered Friday's schedule. Originally, three games were supposed to be played at LaGrange College, but mother nature had other intentions as a steady morning rain affected the schedule and only two games were played. Covenant starting pitcher Scotty Smith was outstanding as he went 7.1 innings without allowing a run in helping propel the Scots to a 2-0 win over top-seeded LaGrange in an elimination game to begin Friday's play. With the win, Covenant advances to Saturday's action and will play in tomorrow's third game of the day against Huntingdon in an elimination game. In the second game of the day, the Huntingdon offense was the story as the Hawks scored in each of their first three plate appearances headlined by a grand slam by Cade Morgan in the top of the second on their way to a 13-1 win. Huntingdon had three home runs and 16 hits in the contest in the win on their way to a convincing win. Parker Szush was outstanding on the mound, tossing a complete game and only allowing one run in the win. Tomorrow's action will feature three games beginning at 10am. The day will begin with a 'winners' game between second-seeded Belhaven and fourth-seeded Piedmont. That game will be followed by our first elimination game of the day between Maryville and the loser of the first game. The third game will feature Covenant taking on Huntingdon in another elimination game.
A wild second day of the 2023 American Southwest Conference Baseball Championship Tournament saw all winning scores in double figures. The top two seeds that had byes on Thursday were in trouble for a back-and-forth elimination game that saw the host team East Texas Baptist prevail 17-13. Texas-Dallas opened the day with a 15-3 win over Concordia-Texas. Concordia Texas got the first run of the game to take an early lead. The Comets (25-17) claimed the lead in the top of the second on a pair of runs and were able to pull away with a six-run fifth and three-run sixth headlining another explosive day. The Tornados countered with four runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to make it a 12-6 deficit. UTD squashed any further rally with the final three runs. Hardin-Simmons woke its bats up for a convincing 12-4 win over the top-seeded Tigers. UT Dallas will face Hardin-Simmons at 11 a.m. to start Saturday’s winner’s bracket. The winner moves on to have two chances to clinch the ASC title on Sunday. East Texas Baptist and LeTourneau meet in the first elimination game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner from that game plays a second time versus the loser of the earlier game for an opportunity to challenge the winner’s bracket remaining team on Sunday.
The USA South three-team double-elimination tournaments are underway with first day action, hosted by N.C. Wesleyan and Methodist. At N.C. Wesleyan, in the first game of the day, fifth-seeded Pfeiffer defeated fourth-seeded Greensboro, 4-2. In game two, the top-seed, and host, Battling Bishops eliminated Greensboro, 5-3. N.C. Wesleyan and Pfeiffer are both still undefeated and will play a doubleheader tomorrow, May 6th. If one team sweeps, they will win the bracket. If the two teams split the games, a winner-take-all contest will be played on Sunday, May 7th. At Methodist, the first game saw sixth-seeded Brevard upset third-seeded William Peace, 5-2 in 11 innings. The Pacers would rebound and win a pitcher's duel, 1-0, over the host, and top-seed, Monarchs. With all three teams still alive, Methodist and Brevard will open the day of play tomorrow, May 6th. Regardless of the outcome, Brevard will play William Peace in game two. Should Brevard be victorious over Methodist, the Monarchs will be eliminated and the Tornados will win the bracket with a win over William Peace. If Methodist defeats Brevard, the Monarchs will advance to play on Sunday, May 7th and await the winner of the Brevard/William Peace matchup. All teams are still alive within the double-elimination tournaments which will continue tomorrow and conclude the following day.
"Win and we're in." That was John Carroll's mindset coming into the Friday afternoon doubleheader against nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace, as they needed just one win to clinch a spot in next week's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Fortunately for the Blue Streaks, they won the first game, 4-1, and nearly completed a late comeback in the second but fell flat, 6-5. The victory was JCU's 25th of the season, which tied a single season school record also set in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The Blue Streaks were in complete command the entire game in the opener, as Joe Olsavsky ignited the offense in the first inning. In game two, the Yellow Jackets built a 6-3 lead. Even after being stifled at the plate all game long, the Blue Streaks were not going to roll over in the ninth. Olsavsky, who had been held off the bases the entire second game, ripped a double down the left field line that brought Daugenti all the way around from first to score. A wild pitch that went to the backstop gave Olsavsky plenty of time to run down the line and make it a one-run game after advancing to third on the throw during his RBI double. However, the fight on offense came just a bit too late, as Dawson Gabe, who pitched 3.2 innings of relief, struck out Orwell and got Hanley to fly out to end the game. With the split, Baldwin Wallace earned the regular season crown.
Luther walked off both games of the doubleheader in the final regular season series against Central. The Norse won the first game in ten innings with a double from Joshua Matanich that scored the winning run for a 3-2 victory. In the game two, Noah Sebben hit the sac fly that helped score the run in the bottom of the eighth for the 5-4 win. Luther is now 23-16 overall and 16-7 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) with one game left in the regular season. Matanich's double helped the Norse walk-off game one earning two RBIs. In the second game he had two hits with one double.
Westminster (Pa.) swept Bethany College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon. The Titans registered a 12-7 come-from-behind victory in game one before scoring a 13-2 win in game two. Westminster wrapped up the regular season 20-18 overall and 13-7 in league play. The Titans, one four programs with 13 or more league wins, must wait until Saturday's three PAC doubleheaders have been completed to determine if they have qualified for next week's PAC Championship Tournament. In the opener, Bethany sent 12 men to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and grabbed a 7-3 lead. In the top of the seventh Carter Chinn tripled to right, scoring two runs. A sacrifice fly scored Chinn to pull Westminster to within one, 7-6. Brandon Cooper tripled to left center in the eighth and scored sophomore third baseman Braeden Campbell to tie the game at 7-7. Anthony Perry's RBI single scored Cooper before junior pinch hitter Jake Dockum tripled to left center and scored Perry. Murgenovich's sacrifice fly scored Dockum to push the Titans' lead to 10-7. Two runs in the ninth puched the game to its 12-7 final. Junior right-hander Kolton Banfi moved to 5-1 with the game two win. He allowed two runs (2 earned) on seven hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts in 8.0 innings of work.
Penn State Abington's Josh Baar and Montana Milward combined for four home runs and nine RBI as the Nittany Lions defeated Penn State Harrisburg, 15-9, in the final United East Conference contest of the season on Friday afternoon at Alverthorpe Park. Prior to the game, Abington recognized its senior class competing in their final home game in part of Senior Day festivities. Abington trailed 9-4 after four innings and went on to score 11 unanswered runs to rally to defeat Harrisburg. Milward finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs and six RBI tying his career-high. His two home runs marked his first multi-homer game of the year as he now has four long balls this season. Baar went 3-for-3 with four runs, three RBI and two walks. His two home runs increased his season total to seven to set a new career-high. It also marked his first multi-homer game of his career.
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| SUNY New Paltz took care of visiting Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta Friday in game one of its three-game series, run ruling the Red Dragons, 11-1 in seven innings. SUNY New Paltz athletics photo by Monica D'Ippolito |
Keystone enjoyed an 11-5 victory at Rosemont College in CSAC action on Friday to secure the top seed in the upcoming CSAC tournament. Keystone finished with 15 hits and scored five runs in the seventh to secure the win. Robert Estrada went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, including a two-run homer in the seventh. Jason Thomas finished 3-for-4 at leadoff while Julio Acosta drove in three runs. Jordan Art earned the win, tossing five innings with three strikeouts, three groundouts and five flyouts on 73 pitches. Drew Sorrentino and Logan Lixie appeared in relief, combining for five strikeouts, with Lixie earning the save.
- UW-Whitewater sweeps UW-Platteville, Adam Cootway hits for the cycle
- UW-Stevens Popint takes two from UW-Oshkosh
Winning their 10th straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game, North Central College used a late-inning surge coupled with timely pitching to beat North Park 5-3 on Friday afternoon at Holmgren Athletic Complex. Gavin Gawronski, who replaced Ryan Behling in the seventh inning, did not allow a hit in the seventh and eighth inning. Nolan Shannon came in for the ninth inning to earn his team-leading fourth save of the season as he posted a 1-2-3 inning. Rob Marinec led the Cardinals with two hits while five different players each drove in one run apiece. Behling struck out nine over his six innings of work, allowing three runs, just one benign earned, and two walks. Gawronksi and Shannon secured the win by not allowing a Vikings hit in the final three innings of play. Gawronksi picked up his second win of the season.
Adrian opened the series at home with Kalamazoo College for the home finale. Adrian shocked the first place Hornets with a 6-0 victory to begin the series. The Bulldogs struck first to jump out to a 1-0 lead after a solo home run from Easton Rogers in the second inning. The Bulldogs added five in the second inning. With the bases loaded, Edward Wagner hit a bases clearing double to lead 4-0. After putting runners on second and third, Travis Liford singled in a pair of runs to lead 6-0. Gage Ricker threw seven scoreless innings for Adrian to take the lead into the eighth. Kalamazoo put runners on the corners in the top of the eighth with one out. Kalamazoo hit a fly ball to right field which Joe Casale caught for the second out and threw the runner out at the plate to hold Kalamazoo scoreless and get out of the inning. Michael Swanson and Joe Toth appeared in relief to hold Kalamazoo scoreless and complete the shutout in game one of the series.
Aurora University Spartans celebrated the clinching of the 2023 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season title with a doubleheader sweep of Rockford University on Friday afternoon. The Spartans won game one 11-6 and ended game two with a two-run home run, AU's ninth of the day, in the eighth inning from Tyler Patton. In game one Jett Wedekind hit two home runs as AU won wire to wire. The Spartans jumped out early in game two and once again led from the get-go for the conference clinching sweep.
Cal Lutheran scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and completed a Senior Day comeback against Chapman on Friday afternoon. Down 7-3, the Kingsmen had another special moment at George Sparky Anderson Field and Ullman Stadium. The offense exploded for six hits and five runs, and took the game 8-7. The Kingsmen opened the ninth inning with three hits, the first was a triple from Max Heverly. Jalen Parks was up next and singled to score the first run. A few batters later, Zach Lafata singled, scoring Zach Ritter. The bats kept rolling as Kyle Reuser singled to make it a one-run game. After Brendan Durfee walked, loading the bases, Joseph Scalzo singled in the tying run. Josh Quinn had the final at-bat, and was hit by a pitch, which gave the Kingsmen a walk-off.
No. 20-ranked Augustana defeated the Wheaton Thunder on Friday 8-1, clinching sole possession of the CCIW regular season title for the first time since 2014. With the No. 1 seed secured, the Vikings will host five other teams for the conference's capstone tournament from May 10-13 at Swanson Stadium. The Vikings broke through in the sixth behind a trio of runs and built a 5-1 cushion. Augie carried their momentum into the seventh inning as Chase Maifield hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Dymitri Kanellakis. The team's final two runs came in both the eighth and ninth inning to move the margin to seven, eventually clinching the game and conference title with a clean final frame from Jacob Reusch. Harrison Boushele earned the win after allowing only one run over seven innings to go with 12 strikeouts. The Vikings out-hit the Thunder 12-6, with Green and Simon claiming three apiece to lead the team. Green also batted in a game-high two runs.
Looking to finish out the regular season on a high note and head into the Little East Conference Tournament next week with momentum, UMass Boston's bats continued to roll after a late game one flurry where they fell just short against 13th-nationally ranked Eastern Connecticut State, 7-5, before coming back in game two to snag a 9-5 victory and earn the doubleheader split. The Beacons would not go down without a fight and had the opportunity to potentially tie the game up in the eighth inning. Still trailing 7-2, senior infielder Gianni Zarrilli Jr. lifted his team-leading sixth home run of the season, a two-run home run, which brought the UMass Boston deficit down to three, 7-4, with one out. A two-out RBI single from Leavitt brought the Beacons within two, 7-5, and send Parker to the plate to face junior pitcher Nolan Lincoln who struck out the outfielder before retiring the side in the ninth to secure the save and the 7-5 game one victory for Eastern Connecticut. In the nightcap, Eastern Connecticut looked to threaten in the seventh inning, putting runners on the corners with two outs before senior pitcher Tim Cianciolo made a highlight reel play, snagging a chopper back to the mound barehanded to the opposite side of the mound, before firing over to first to retire the side and end the inning. From there, freshman pitcher Josh Garner and junior pitcher Sam Gray closed the door on the Warriors, earning UMass Boston a split in the doubleheader to end the regular season.
Hope earned a series win at Trine on Friday and clinched the final spot in next week's MIAA Tournament. The Flying Dutchmen entered the day needing one win or one Albion College loss to advance to postseason play and defeated the Thunder, 7-5, in Game 1. Trine edged Hope, 2-1, in Game 2. Hope (20-18, 12-9) will be seeded third or fourth depending on the results of the Saturday doubleheader between regular-season champion Kalamazoo College and Adrian College. Against Trine, the Flying Dutchmen used a seven-run fourth inning to take Game 1. Hope sent 11 batters to the plate and scored all of its runs with one out. In Game 2, Trine (15-24, 6-15) broke a scoreless tie with two unearned runs in the sixth inning to win its season finale.
Graduate student Sean Malamud tossed a complete game, five-hitter on Friday afternoon, leading Plattsburgh to a 5-2 win over Fredonia in what was potentially the final start of his collegiate career. The right-hander threw all nine innings, allowing just five hits, and two runs, and stuck out four to give the Cards the series-opening win in State University of New York Athletic Conference action. Behind Malamud, the team gave him solid defense as they made just one error, and the offense gave him solid support with five runs, despite just six hits. Jack Defayette was the only Cardinal with multiple hits, as he finished 2-3 with an RBI 2B, a run scored, and a walk. Conner Gonzalski drove in two runs as he finished the day with one hit, and Alex Kornblau was 1-3 with an RBI 2B, a HBP, and two runs scored. Plattsburgh improves to 13-20 (5-11 SUNYAC) with the win and concludes their season by taking on Fredonia in doubleheader conference action tomorrow, May 6.
Benedictine split the final home doubleheader of the season, tallying a 3-0 win in the opener before dropping an 8-1 decision in the second contest. Both contests were very similar in that they were scoreless until late in the game as both starting pitchers controlled the opposition. Benedictine did not have a hit in the opener until Logan Gregorio led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer to left to open the scoring. Andrew Tenison added an RBI double later in the inning and Gregorio smacked home a run in the eighth with another extra-base hit. The three runs were more than enough for Jackson Bahn, who picked up his fourth win of the season on the hill. In the second game Dominican plated six runs in the eighth in what was a 0-0 knuckler.The Stars added two in the ninth with the lone run for Benedictine coming in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly from Chase Hanselman.
UW-La Crosse split a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with UW-Eau Claire Friday afternoon at the Viterbo Outdoor Athletics Complex. UWL won game one, 12-2 in seven innings, while UW-Eau Claire won the nightcap, 5-2. In the opener, UWL scored first with a run in the first inning and built a 7-0 lead. UW-Eau Claire would get two runs in the fourth inning when Andrew Murpyh hit a two-run home run to cut the deficit to 7-2 but the Eagles responded with five runs in the sixth inning on three hits to give them a 12-2 lead. Isaiah Katz (5-0) pitched a complete game in picking up the win, he went 7.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and one walk while striking out eight. UW-Eau Claire would add a run in the ninth inning to make the score 5-2. In the bottom of the ninth, Urlaub led off with walk, but UW-Eau Claire's Joe Clinton retired the next three UWL batters to earn the save. Matt Moore (2-3) earned the win for the Blugolds as he allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Clinton earned his first save, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing a walk while striking out two. Eight different players had a hit for UW-Eau Claire.