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| No. 5 Houghton broke a close game open with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, en route to a 7-3 win over No. 6 seed SUNY Poly in the opening round of the 2025 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Tournament on Tuesday evening. Houghton moves on and will take on No. 4 Utica in the wildcard game of the 2025 Empire 8 Championship at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning from SUNY Brockport. The winner of that game advances to the double elimination portion of the E8 Tourney, the losing team is eliminated. Houghton athletics photo |
Top-seeded City College of New York and No. 3 seed Baruch advanced to the championship series of the 2025 CUNYAC Baseball Championship with first round wins on Tuesday. The Beavers downed No. 4 seed Lehman 10-7, while the Bearcats needed 15 innings to oust defending champion John Jay by a 7-6 final.
CCNY (12-12) advanced to its fourth straight CUNYAC baseball championship series with a 10-7 victory over Lehman (1-26). The Beavers trailed 1-0 after the first but plated four runs in the bottom of the third and pulled away with a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the seventh. Kevin Budzinski finished 2-4 at the plate with a double and a triple for CCNY and drove in three runs, while Michael Chasanov also drove in a pair of runs. The Beavers were also 5-6 in stolen base attempts. Erik Rank went 6.1 innings on the mound for CCNY, surrendering four runs on six hits while striking out a pair as he improved to 6-1. Juan Maldonado and Greg Peguero led the Lightning with three hits apiece as Lehman outhit CCNY 13-9.
Baruch pushed across a run in the top of the 15th inning as Christopher Petrillo drove in a run on a bases-loaded fielders' choice as the Bloodhounds' throw home was late. Heading to the bottom of the frame with a 7-6 lead, Baruch reliever Andrew Lapointe slammed the door with a 1-2-3 inning to move Baruch to the championship series for the first time since 2022. Baruch (12-18), which extended its win streak to seven games, trailed 4-2 heading into the eighth and scored twice to knot the game 4-4. The Bearcats took a 6-4 lead in the top of the 11th, before the Bloodhounds (15-20) scored twice in the bottom half to extend the game. Kenneth Pastrana led Baruch with three hits, going 3-4 with two RBI, while Roy Longarzo, Peter Marino and Joseph Cocozza recorded two hits apiece. Lapointe worked the final two innings and struck out three to earn the win. John Kim went the first seven innings on the hill and struck out six while allowing four runs (one earned). Joseph Bello tossed six innings of relief. Quentin Bowman, Sebastian Sanchez, James Hordoyski and Ryan Cherichella each recorded two hits for John Jay. Bloodhound starter Sean Jost went nine innings and struck out nine while scattering eight hits.
The 2025 SLIAC Baseball Tournament opened up on Tuesday and saw both higher seeds win to advance to the semifinal round beginning on Thursday. The #3 seed, Spalding University, defeated #6 seed Eureka College 15-1 in front of their home crowd while #4 Westminster College picked up a 16-5 win over #5 Greenville University. They complete the semifinals as Webster University and MUW earned quarterfinal round byes as the tournament's top two seeds. The remainder of the tournament will be held at Car Shield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. in a double elimination format.
Spalding wasted no time taking control of the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning to establish early momentum. Their offense continued to pile on throughout the game, recording runs nearly every inning. In total, the Golden Eagles put up 17 hits and scored in seven of the eight innings they batted, including three-run efforts in both the third and sixth innings and a two-run burst in the eighth to cap off the rout. Spalding's offense featured contributions from up and down the lineup. Multiple players registered multi-hit games, combined for eight extra-base hits. The offensive surge was enough support for starting pitcher Cameron Rayborn, who performed excellently on the mound. Eureka's lone highlight came in the sixth inning, when they managed to scratch across their only run of the game. Despite collecting six hits, they struggled to string anything together against Rayborn's steady command and Spalding's sound defense. The Red Devils could not capitalize on limited opportunities and were ultimately overpowered by a more disciplined and aggressive Golden Eagles team.
The Catholic offense tallied 16 hits and 10 runs to propel the Cardinals to a 10-3 victory over Lycoming in the opening game of the Landmark Conference Tournament on Tuesday. Sammy Burman had a four-hit day, driving in three runs to lead the 16-hit effort. All nine players in the batting order recorded at least one hit while Steve Thomas, Joe Marini, and Justin McCarthy joined Burman with multi-hit efforts. Thomas, Marini, and Matthew Fisher had extra-base hits for Catholic. Catholic starting pitcher Sam Fairhurst overcame a Lycoming lead-off triple from Nick Reeder to toss a scoreless first inning, allowing the Cardinals to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Marini singled through the left side, advanced on a ground out, and then scored on a Dante Pozzi single to center. Lycoming did jump ahead in the top of the second, using four hits to score two runs on RBI knocks from Reeder and Danny DeLucas. The lead did not last long as Thomas doubled to drive in McCarthy to tie the contest in the bottom half of the frame. Marini followed with a double of his own, scoring Thomas to put the Cardinals ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the third, Burman singled with one away and moved into scoring position for Fisher to drive him in with a double down the left field line. The lead grew to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth with Mitchel Johnson driving in Thomas with an RBI single and Burman bringing Johnson home with a single to center. Now leading 6-3 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Cardinals used a four-run inning to break the game open. An error and a double play allowed the first two runs to score before Burman drove in two with a bases-loaded single through the right side to build a 10-3 lead for the Cardinals. The game would pause briefly with a lightning delay and no runs would score after the return to play. Fairhurst would earn the victory in 5.2 innings of three-run ball. The sophomore struck out two batters and allowed nine hits. Mac Meara and Jack Scholz combined for 3.1 scoreless innings to close out Lycoming.
No. 2 UW-Whitewater concluded their 2025 regular season with a 10-8 win over Ripon on Prucha Field. The Warhawks took an early 3-0 lead to start off the game in the bottom of the first. Andy Thies blasted a two-run homer to set the tone early. Danny Hopper sent in Eli Frank for the early crooked-number. The Red Hawks gathered their first hit in the top of the third and brought the runner around with an RBI single. Ripon shut out the Warhawks offense in the bottom of the third, and carried the momentum forward into the top of the fourth. A two-RBI triple, followed by a sacrifice fly tied the game up at 4-a-piece. Aaron Holland broke the tie with a sacrifice fly, and Adam Cootway stole home to give the Warhawks a two-run cushion. Ripon College rallied once again in the sixth, to tie the game back up at six runs. The Warhawks were unable to break the tie in the bottom of the 6th, but after the seventh inning stretch, Hopper hit a RBI double, followed by an RBI single from Dominik McVay to give the Warhawks the lead. Scolan added some more insurance, hitting a two-run jack to dead center to give the Warhawks a 10-6 lead heading into the last three outs. The Red Hawks were able to get some runners around, but Logan Eisenbarth tallied three Ks, two looking, in the ninth inning. Max Huseboe earned the win, pitching 2.0 innings in the contest. Huseboe fanned four batters, while only two hits & no runs. UWW finishes their 17th straight season with 30 or more wins, as they prepare for the WIAC Tournament.