ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 25 RIT baseball team (31-7) extended its winning streak to 10 games, opening the postseason by defeating Vassar College (19-18) by a score of 11-5 in the double-elimination Liberty League Tournament from Tiger Stadium on Thursday afternoon. The top-seeded Tigers will take on No. 2 seed Union College (21-13) in a winner's bracket game Friday morning at 10 a.m.
 
The Tigers, who are nationally-ranked for the first time in program history, scored a run in each of its final six innings at the plate. RIT opened the scoring in the third inning and added four runs to lead 5-0 after four innings. After Vassar scored a pair of unearned runs to cut RIT's lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning, RIT added one in the bottom of the fifth, one in the sixth, one in the seventh, and three in the eighth inning to build an 11-2 advantage. Vassar would score three runs in the top of the ninth inning to complete the scoring.
 
RIT out-hit Vassar, 11-9. Jason Schulz (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) led the Tigers offensively by going 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Mike Myers (Hamlin, NY/Brockport) reached base four times, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, two runs scored, and two RBIs. Daniel Capra (North Salem, NY/North Salem) doubled twice, with two runs scored, and a run batted in.
 
Junior hurler Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield) was tremendous in notching his eighth win of the season, scattering five hits and a pair of unearned runs, while striking out eight batters without a walk. He is now 8-1 this season with a 1.64 earned run average and 63 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings.
 
"It was good to start the tournament off with a win," said RIT head coach Rob Grow. "We are really excited to get right back to it tomorrow."
 
Nine different players had a hit for the Brewers. Jake Doyle drove in a pair of runs, while Chris Lee, and Matt Hernandez also had RBIs. Trent Berg got the start on the mound for Vassar, allowing six hits and six runs (two earned), while walking three and striking out seven batters in four innings. The Brewers used four relief pitchers.
 
Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) opened the scoring for the Tigers with a run-scoring single in the third inning. RIT took advantage of a key Vassar error to score four times in the fourth. The big hit came on a two-run single by Schulz. After Vassar cut the RIT lead to 5-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name) would put the Tigers back up four runs, hitting a long home run off the scoreboard in the right field, his second of the season.
 
From there, Reed would continue to keep the Brewers bats off the board, as RIT continued to add to its lead. Myers would drive in a pair of runs with his single in the eighth inning, pushing him over the 30 RBI mark on the season.
 
RIT has now won all four meetings between the two schools this season by a combined 44-15.  

Earlier in the day, Union, the defending Liberty League Champions, defeated Clarkson 5-3 to set up the winner's bracket matchup with the Tigers on Friday morning. RIT and Union did not meet during the regular season.

Today marked RIT's 15th time scoring at least 10 runs in a game this season. With the 11 runs in today's win, the Tigers broke the single-season school record, as they now have 293.
 
RIT finished the Liberty League regular season with a 22-1 record and .957 winning percentage. RIT has now won 20 consecutive games against Liberty League opponents and is 24-1 over its last 25 games overall. It is RIT's second double-digit winning streak of the season, as they won 14 straight in April. The 31 wins are a single-season program record.