TROY, NY – Host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute jumped out to a big lead and withstood a University of Rochester rally to win 11-7 in an elimination game of the Liberty League Baseball Tournament at Robison Field on Friday morning.
The Engineers improve to 23-15 and played another elimination game at 4:30pm against Clarkson for the right to face off against 2-0 RIT in Saturday's championship round. The Yellowjackets finish their season with a 26-16 mark.
After two and a half scoreless innings, Rensselaer put five runs on the board in the third inning, highlighted by a 2-run double down the leftfield line by Nick Palmiero. Eleven batters came to the plate in the frame for the Engineers, chasing UR starter Josh Schulman. RPI's Tim LeSuer, Jason Ramos and Chris Holomakoff each added an RBI in the inning.
The Yellowjackets came right back with an unearned run in the top of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Brendan Garry, but RPI plated three additional runs with two outs in the fifth when Holomakoff hit his first career home run, a 3-run shot clearing the left field wall. LeSuer added his home run, of the 2-run variety an inning later to boost the lead to 10-1 RPI.
Sean Conroy, RPI's starting pitcher, gave up eight hits and five runs with six strikeouts and no walks in improving to 6-1. He allowed an unearned run in the fourth inning and four more runs in the eighth.
Shulman suffered the loss for Rochester, allowing five runs (2 earned) on four hits with three walks and a strikeout in 2.2 innings. Three relievers combined for the final 5.1 innings for the Yellowjackets.
Rochester tried to claw its way back into it in the eighth inning, scoring four times to cut the lead to 10-5. Dan Warren led off with a double to left center and was promptly singled in by freshman Tyler Schmidt. Sam Slustky then doubled to right, putting runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Josh Ludwig then grounded out and Garry and Nolan Schultz then provided back-to-back doubles to finish off the inning.
After RPI added one in the bottom of the 8th, UR would plate two more in the 9th but ultimately fall short by an 11-7 score. Slutsky finished with 3 hits, including two doubles, three runs and an RBI while Schmidt added two hits, two runs and a run batted in. Garry picked up two RBI on Friday and ended the tournament with a team high three batted in after a solo home run in Thursday's opening game.
The Engineer's got a 3-for-5 day at the plate from LeSuer who added a home run and 3 batted in. Ramos went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI while Holomakoff was 1-for-2 with a home run, 2 runs and 4 RBI.
RPI, the top seed, fell into the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament with a 10-8 loss to fourth-seeded RIT on Thursday. The Yellowjackets, the third-seed, lost to second-seeded Clarkson, 17-1, in the first game of the four-team event.