The University of Rochester baseball team defeated crosstown rival RIT 12-3 with the help of a big eighth inning, powering the Yellowjackets into the winners bracket of the double-elimination Liberty League Tournament on Thursday evening at Towers Field.
Rochester (17-15) sent a total of 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, answering RIT's two-run rally in the top half of the inning which cut the UR lead to just one.
RIT falls to 19-16-1, and will play in an elimination game against Vassar on Friday at 11 am. The Tigers earned their spot in the championship bracket with a 3-2 walk-off win in Thursday's tournament opening wild-card game against Rensselaer. In the other semifinal on the day, #2 seeded Union walloped Vassar 12-1.
UR got a gusty pitching performance from grad student Will Conroy, in earning his fourth win of the season. He tossed a career-high 7.2 innings and scattered eight hits while allowing three runs (one earned). Conroy issued one walk and hit three batters while striking out three. Sophomore Garrett Renslow got the final four outs of the game, three via strikeout to earn his first save.
Offensively, four Yellowjackets had two hits, Tyler Schmidt, David Rieth, Steve Pickering and Kyle Trombley. Pickering had a home run and two runs scored, Trombley scored twice and Schmidt drove in two runs. Aiden Finch also drove in two runs and so did Aaron Craig on two sacrifice flies.
RIT's Dalton Murray finished 3-5 at the plate with an RBI, while Daniel Zeglen and Patrick Mylott each had two hits. Jameson Moran got the start for the Tigers and went seven plus innings. He allowed 6 hits, 5 runs (3 earned) with 3 walks and 1 strikeout.
The Tigers ended up taking the early lead, scoring in the top of the second when Dom Scialabba singled to right, plating Daniel Capra.
UR answered right away, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Pickering's home run was a blast to right that came on the first pitch he saw in the inning. After back-to-back singles from Drew Bankovich and Trombley, Craig recorded his first sac fly of the game to put the Yellowjackets ahead.
In the fourth, Pickering led off with a single and moved to second when Trombley walked with one out. After a passed ball moved both runners up, an RIT throwing error extended the inning, plating Pickering. Schmidt then singled to right to put the 'Jackets up 4-1.
The score remained 4-1 until the eighth when RIT scored twice, trimming the lead to one. After a leadoff hit batter, Capra singled to right, and when the ball got through the legs of UR's right fielder and went all the way to the wall, the run came around to score. The next batter, Murray, then singled to score Capra, making it 4-3.
Conroy got two outs before yielding the mound to Renslow. Joey Mylott then doubled, but UR got a lucky bounce with the ball bounding over for a ground rule double, holding RIT's tying runner at third. Renslow then struck out the next batter to end the threat.
Rochester's eighth was filled with fireworks. Herman led off with a walk and was moved to second on pinch hitter Jake Hertz's sacrifice. Bankovich followed with a walk and Trombley reached on an infield single to load the bases.
Craig then lifted a fly ball to right for his second sacrifice fly of the night before Ziring reached on a key RIT error to keep the inning alive.
Schmidt then singled to right and Rieth followed with an infield single to make it 7-3. The next three batters, Finch, Herman and Hertz then all tripled to right, highlighting the inning and made the score 12-3 Rochester.
RIT got two singles in the ninth, but Renslow earned two strikeouts and a fly out to close out the win, Rochester's first in the Liberty League tournament since the 2014 season.
On Friday, Vassar and RIT open play at 11 am. Rochester plays Union in the winners bracket game at 2 pm, with the winner of the opening game taking on the loser of the afternoon game at 5 pm for the right to play in the championship round scheduled for Saturday.