ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT baseball team (25-7, 18-1 Liberty League) 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 University (10-18, 8-10 Liberty League) from Tiger Stadium on Sunday afternoon. 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. RIT's pitching staff has an incredible 2.35 earned run average in Liberty League play this season.
"The guys are having so much fun on the field every day," said RIT head coach Rob Grow. "We still have a lot of baseball to play and hope to continue this great run into the final week of the regular season and postseason."
For the second consecutive Sunday, RIT's bats came out smoking hot in the first inning in game one, as the Tigers sent 13 men to the plate, scoring eight runs on eight hits. All nine starters in the lineup reached base at least once. Patrick Mylott and Daniel Capra had the big blows for the Tigers, driving in a pair of runs apiece in the inning. Navada Waterman would score a pair of runs.
That was more than enough offense for RIT hurler Jameson Moran, who was dominant on the mound, allowing just three hits, while striking out a career-high 11 batters without a walk for his fifth win of the season and first collegiate shutout. In Liberty League play, Moran has been incredible, with a 4-0 record, one save and a 0.38 earned run average. He has allowed just 13 hits, while striking out 27 batters in 24 innings during league play.
Daniel Zeglen was the lone Tiger to have a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and run batted in. Ten different Tigers had at least one hit, as RIT held an 11-3 advantage in hits.
Evan Reichel took the loss for the Saints, allowing all eight runs on eight hits in 2/3 of an inning. Louis LaCivita gave St. Lawrence strong relief, allowing just one hit on 44 pitched in 5 1/3 innings.
In game two, the Tigers mustered just four hits, but took advantage of seven walks.
RIT jumped right out to a quick 1-0 lead just two batters into the game, as Waterman tripled into the right field corner and Gorman drove him in with a groundout to second. RIT added to its lead in the top of the third inning, as Waterman walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Kajganich to make it 2-0.
RIT scored three more runs in the seventh inning on just one hit to expand the lead to 5-0. Jason Schulz was hit by a pitch, followed by consecutive walks by Waterman, Will Gorman, and Kajganich, the latter with bases loaded to make it 3-0. Ben Terzini was hit by a pitch to score Waterman and make it 4-0. Mike Myers would single to right field, scoring Gorman to give RIT an insurmountable 5-0 cushion.
Zeglen continued his tremendous work on the mound, allowing just four hits for his fifth win of the season, second complete game, and first collegiate shutout. He needed just 102 pitches for the shutout, striking out five batters.
Waterman scored three runs, while Kajganich drove in a pair of runs.
Colin Clarke took the loss on the mound for the Saints, allowing four runs on just two hits, while walking five batters. Adam Butler had two hits.
Yesterday, the Tigers won both ends of a doubleheader over the Saints, by scores of 9-2 and 3-0, as RIT head coach Rob Grow won his 450th career game at the university.
RIT has out-scored its opponents, 142-43 in Liberty League play.
The Tigers are right back in action on Tuesday, with its final regular season home contest of the year, as No. 9 Oswego State comes to Tiger Stadium for a single non-conference game that starts at 4 p.m. On Wednesday, RIT travels to No. 15 St. John Fisher for a 4 p.m. contest.