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| Junior John Arnold threw a complete game as the third-seeded RIT opened the double-elimination Liberty League Tournament with a 5-1 win over host and second-seeded Skidmore. Ithaca picked up a win over top-seeded Rochester. The Bombers overcame a 3–0 deficit for the 7–4 comeback win in its first game of the double-elimination championship. Liberty league athletics photo |
Number six seed Penn State Altoona staged its second consecutive postseason upset on Thursday, when the Lions knocked off second-seeded Penn State Behrend 11-9 in day one of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament's championship rounds, hosted by Alfred State College at Pioneer Field. Penn State Altoona (18-25) ran up a big lead early, then held on to defeat Penn State Behrend (20-17) for the first time this season, after the Lions suffered a tightly contested doubleheader sweep at the hands of Behrend during the regular season. With the win, Penn State Altoona will face five seed Hilbert – which earned a win over top seed Alfred State today. Hilbert erased a five-run deficit and rallied with six runs in the 8th to beat No. 1 Alfred State 8-6 in the opening game of the AMCC tournament. Hilbert head coach Drew Fittry is excited about the win, but "we are focused on this weekend. We have a killer opportunity to do something special in the next 48 hours."
Fifth seed Mass. Maritime and sixth seed Fitchburg State are moving on to the MASCAC Tournament quarterfinals after winning their first round contests Thursday morning. Buccaneer baseball opened the MASCAC Playoffs with a first round single elimination game win over Worcester State by a final of 6-1. A pair of home runs from Brett Velzis and a first inning home run from John Tropea helped the Bucs offensively; Hunter Dean threw a one run complete game to seal the deal and propel Maritime into the quarterfinals of the tournament. Fitchburg State rallied to defeat the Owls of Westfield State, 14-8 in opening round action of the 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Post-Season Tournament from Alumni Park on the campus of Bridgewater State. Fitchburg State was back on the field just after their win but this time suffered a 10-7 setback to the Bears of Bridgewater State. Senior Matthew Seavey earned the win for Bridgewater State, giving up five runs (4 earned) on eight hits and striking out two over 7.2 innings of work. This was the 100th meeting between the Falcons and the Bears on the diamond with Bridgewater State 31-69-31 all-time when taking on Fitchburg State. The top seeded Framingham State held off fifth seed Mass. Maritime's in the ninth inning as the Rams held on for the 7-6 victory. In the top of the ninth inning, Ryan Boyle robbed the Bucs leadoff batter Aiden Henderson of a homer as he made a spectacular catch falling over the fence in left field. The Bucs did have runners on first and second with one out and Aten delivered and RBI single, but the Rams were able to end the game with a flyout and a strikeout.
Cortland scored eight runs in the sixth inning and defeated Oswego, 10-5, in the opening round of the 2023 SUNYAC tournament at Wallace Field. Cortland is now 30-9 on the season and reached the 30-win plateau for the 18th consecutive season (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season) and for the 28th time in the last 29 complete seasons. Oswego dropped to 19-20 with the loss. Cortland banged out 15 hits in the contest. Zachary Kringdon went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Andrew Michalski was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Adam Mieczkowski and Matt Bruno each had a pair of hits and an RBI and Chris Bonacci added two hits and a run scored to pace the Red Dragons. No. 2 Brockport topped No. 3 Oneonta in the second game, 12-2.
After day one of the 2023 American Rivers Conference Tournament, top seeded Buena Vista and No.3-seeded Loras are left standing as the undefeated teams in the double elimination tournament to decide the conference’s AQ to the 2023 NCAA Division III Championships. In the tournament opener, Loras defeated Wartburg 15-6. Loras took advantage of the fourth inning when they scored six runs. Wartburg continued to try to claw back into the game, but ultimately the Duhawks continued to pull away and put the game to a close in the bottom of the eighth inning when they scored five runs to run-rule the Knights. Dubuque edged Coe, 5-4. Dubuque accounted for 11 hits in the game, holding Coe to just five. Coe had two errors and Dubuque additionally had three. Edward Rosas picks up the win for Dubuque. For the Spartans, Derek Hardin earns the save. Dubuque turned around to play Buena Vista but fell 5-0 to the Beavers. Morgan Smith picked up the pitching win for the Beavers. Luther jumped out to the early 1-0 lead in the second inning with Loras responded with three in the third to take the lead and they never looked back scoring three more in the eighth and four in the ninth to secure the 13-3 win. In game five of the day, Wartburg was eliminated by Coe, with the Kohawks getting a 4-3 win. The Knights an early 1-0 advantage in the second and it remqained that way into the eighth. Coe had life in the eighth inning getting the bases loaded and was able to grab a run to tie the game up heading into the ninth inning. Kaden Haller doubled to center field in the eleventh inning to secure a walk-off victory for the Kohawks bringing in Tyler Elliot and Creighton Kreshel.
After securing the #4 seed in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament last Friday, John Carroll faced a familiar foe in Berea in their first game of the postseason. Outstanding pitching from Matthew Aukerman and solid at bats for the red-hot Blue Streak offense resulted in a 5-0 victory over the #1 seeded Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets. With the win, John Carroll also notched a program record of 26 wins on the season. Aukerman's final line of 7.2 innings with no runs allowed marked the second time in as many starts that the senior has pitched shutout baseball. Last Friday, he threw 6.2 innings while yielding no runners across the plate which helped JCU clinch its spot in the OAC Tournament against BW. Trent Valentine was masterful on the mound and had three hits to lead No. 12 ranked Marietta College to a 7-2 win over Ohio Northern. "I thought today was one of our better games," Marietta head coach Brian Brewer said. "With this group as young and inexperienced as they are, they just have to realize at this time of year everything needs to be intentional and if we can stay locked in for nine full innings, we have a chance to play our best baseball to date." Valentine (7-0) shutout the Polar Bears through the first seven innings scattering four hits. Ohio Northern finally got to Valentine in the eighth when they strung together three hits and scored their two runs. Valentine worked 7.1 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out seven.
Prior to today in the history of the SLIAC Tournament, only once had a team scored 20 runs; on Thursday that feat was accomplished twice. Besides Webster and Spalding tonight, the only other time was in 2010 by Fontbonne. The top-seeded Gorloks put up runs in all but one inning of their 20-1 win over Eureka, twice scoring five runs in one frame. R.J. LaRocco and Nathaniel Martinez led Webster with three hits each while Deven Shulstad picked up his 6th win of the season. Just hours later Spalding would put their name in the record books as well, scoring 20 runs in a shutout win over Westminster. The Golden Eagles out-hit Westminster 20-5 in the game with three home runs from the Golden Eagles.
The #4 seed California Lutheran Kingsmen scored an upset over the host #1 La Verne Leopards, 8-4, in the first round of the 2023 SCIAC Baseball Tournament to advance in the winner's bracket. In what was a pitcher's duel early, the Kingsmen fell behind twice in the middle innings but rallied in the next frame on each occasion before exploding for five runs in the top of the seventh inning. With the Leopards on their fourth pitcher of the game, Cal Lutheran loaded the bases with just one out thanks to a trio of walks. One run scored on an RBI single that clipped the pitcher's glove before Sean Blandino smacked a bases-clearing triple to deep right center and came around to score on Zach Lafata's RBI single. The #3 seed Chapman Panthers scored an upset over #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags, 11-6, in the first round of the 2023 SCIAC Baseball Tournament to advance in the winner's bracket. The host Stags jumped out to an early lead with RBI singles in the first and third innings, but Chapman University would go on to score five runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to put the game out of reach. Jack Potter drove in the first run, scored in the third and smacked a solo home run in the fifth inning in a 3-for-3 day with two walks for CMS while both AJ Anzai and Cole Minato were 3-for-4 to lead the Panthers, with Anzai driving in five runs. Grant Manning picked up the win after striking out three in six innings as Brandon Menzel tacked on another two scoreless.
After two complete games of the 2023 NCAC Tournament, top-seeded Denison and the second-seeded Wittenberg captured victories and will face off in game three at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12. Third-seeded Wooster and fourth-seeded Wabash will meet up in an elimination game (game 4) at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Wabash held a 5-2 lead through six innings over number-one seed and 11th-ranked Denison in the day’s opening game Thursday afternoon. The Little Giants could not hold the advantage as the Big Red held Wabash scoreless over the final six innings of the game, while also scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to go ahead 7-2. Denison added two runs in the eighth to take the 9-5 decision. In game two on Thursday afternoon, Wittenberg jumped to a 3-0 lead after two innings and then added two more in the fourth inning to build a lead that Wooster just couldn’t catch. The Tigers added an insurance run in the seventh to take a 6-3 win over the Fighting Scots. Wooster rallied, posting three runs in the sixth to come within 5-3, however they were held scoreless the rest of the game.
The opening game of Day Two was a low scoring affair, bookended by scoring frames for the Castleton Spartans who defeated UMass-Dartmouth 3-2. Castleton got on the board in the bottom of the third when Jackson Cardozo drove in Tyler McLain with a single to left. The Spartans trailed 2-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh, where Brandon Ramirez doubled to center to plate Cardozo and Hunter Perkins with game-tying and game-winning runs. No. 4 UMass Boston defeated top seeded Rhode Island College 9-3. The Beacons led 3-2 heading to the top of the fifth, where the broke the game open with a five-spot to open an 8-2 advantage. Gianni Zarrilli delivered the big blow that started the scoring in the fifth, launching a three-run homer over the right field fence. Eastern Connecticut continued their string of LEC wins with a 4-2 win over Southern Maine. The game was scoreless heading to the sixth inning, as both starters worked out of some early jams. The Warriors quickly loaded the bases in the top of the frame for Noah Plantamuro, who cleared the bases with his triple to the gap in right. He then scored on Zach Donahue’s triple to left, and Donahue went home on a single to left off the bat of Jason Claiborn. The Huskies attempted a late rally in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to come all the way back.
It was a perfect night for baseball inside ISG Field in Mankato, MN for the first day of the UMAC Tournament. The day started with Crown coming out firing with a 15-3 win over Wisconsin-Superior. In game two, Crown scored early and often in game one, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and up 12-1 after eight. The Yellowjackets would score two in the eighth on a two run shot from Voight but it would be to little to late, as Crown would score three more runs in the ninth to ultimately win the opening game of the UMAC Tournament 15-3. In game two, both starting pitchers were locked in for the first few innings. Beasley singled to drive in a run, Pauly tripled down the right field line to give Minn-Morris grabbed a lead 8-7. The Bethany Lutheran Vikings would come back and take the lead in the eighth on a Bickmann single to left that drove in two, then a bases loaded walk to give them the lead 10-9 and the win in an absolute classic.
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| Top-seed St. John Fisher and No. 2 seed Utica won their opening games of the double elimination 2023 Empire 8 Tournament from St. John Fisher's Dugan Yard. St. John Fisher defeated No. 4 Russell Sage, 8-3 in the opener, while Utica rallied from an early deficit to defeat No. 3 seed Houghton, 15-8 in the nightcap. Empire 8 athletics photo |
In a morning elimination game, Louis Perona went 4-for-4 with an RBI to drive Illinois Wesleyan’s 15-hit attack in an 11-3 win over Carroll. IWU’s Jacob Cyrus added three hits and a pair of RBI, while Jalen Ping drilled a first-inning home run. The Titans scored the final nine runs of the game, including four-run rallies in both the fourth and seventh innings. IWU starter Jake Pullam earned the win. He struck out seven over 7.0 innings. Top-seeded Augustana became the first team to win two games in the tournament after taking down North Park, 13-5. AC’s Dymitri Kanellakis went 5-for-5 with three doubles, three runs scored and four RBI in the win. Augie has won 18 in a row. Augie scored in five different innings, including a three-run second inning that pushed it in front for the remainder of the game. Kyle Campbell untied the game with an RBI double that gave AC a 4-3 cushion. In the final game of the day, North Central also went 2-0 in the tournament with a 6-5 win over Millikin.
- Photo gallery: St. John's vs. Concordia-Moorhead
In the first game of the 2023 WIAC baseball tournament, fourth-seeded UW-Oshkosh (25-13) defeated top-seeded UW-Stevens Point (29-10) 5-3. The Titans entered the weekend with a 3-7 record against the Pointers in their last 10 games including four losses at Stevens Point last weekend and two losses in last year's WIAC tournament. The second loss came in the WIAC title game by a score of 10-0 in eight innings. Kamden Olivier gave UWSP a 2-1 lead when he homered to right center in the bottom of the fourth, also scoring Brenden Canterbury. Oshkosh's three-run fifth inning was capped off by Nicholas Shiu with a two-run home run to left field. Matt Scherrman also scored on the play. The Titans entered the bottom of the eighth with a 5-2 lead and left with a 5-3 lead and a win. UW-La Crosse earned a 14-4 victory in seven innings over UW-Whitewater. Offensively, the Eagles finished with 14 hits including five different players with multiple hits. Anthony Vivian led the way going 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs while Mac Born finished 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Chris VandenHeuvel and Jack Olver both finished with two hits and two runs while Ty Hamilton had two hits, one run and an RBI.
Four teams remain following Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament action on Thursday afternoon. The remaining teams will travel to top-seeded Endicott on Friday, May 12 to continue the double-elimination bracket. Thursday's action featured a good variety of contests. No. 5 seed Western New England bested No. 6 seed Suffolk, 7-2, in an elimination game. Western New England cracked just five hits for the second consecutive day in CCC Tournament play, though today was enough to advance and send Suffolk home. No. 2 seed Salve Regina ran away with its game against No. 4 seed Roger Williams, 24-1. The closest game of the day was between No. 1 seed Endicott and No. 3 seed Nichols. The Gulls trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth before tying it on a home run. They would win in 12 innings, 3-2. Dylan Pacheco laced a walk-off double to right field to help the No. 4 nationally ranked Gulls complete a 3-2 comeback victory against Nichols. Trailing 2-1 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Joseph Millar ripped a game-tying homer down the right field line to spark the Gulls' comeback. Both teams then exchanged zeroes on the scoreboard until the bottom of the 12th inning.
Alma traveled to Kalamazoo to continue play in the MIAA Tournament. The Scots took on Kalamazoo, who was the winner of the other first round game between the Hornets and Hope College. The Scots came back from an early deficit and held on for a victory over the top-seeded Hornets by a final score of 6-5. Alma left the bottom of the fifth with a 6-5 lead but the game was not over just yet. Both teams had chances in the last several innings to either retake the lead or increase it but both were held off the scoreboard. In the ninth, the Hornets loaded the bases with one out as Warren came to the mound to pitch. Warren got his first batter to pop out to shortstop for a crucial out. With the game on their bat, the Hornets hit a roller down the first base line that Carnicom scooped up and touched the bag to close out the game and send the Scots to the championship game without a loss in the double-elimination tournament. The Scots' opponent will be Adrian, Adrian faced two elimination games. The Bulldogs opened the day in an elimination game against Hope College where Adrian went on to win 12-1. The Bulldogs advanced to another elimination game against Kalamazoo College who lost to Alma earlier in the day. Adrian went on to sweep the day as they defeated Kalamazoo, 13-8.
Washington & Jefferson College and Grove City College, the top two seeds in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament, posted victories in opening round games Thursday. The Presidents (29-12) scored an 8-4 victory in the first game of the day over fourth-seeded Westminster College (20-19). After an early exchange of runs, top-seed W&J pulled away in the middle innings and fended off a potential Westminster rally in the ninth to come away with an 8-4 victory in Game A. In game two, second seed Grove City (30-9) scored the final four runs to rally for a 6-5 victory over No. 3 Saint Vincent College (20-17). Grove City sophomore Mally Kilbane went 4-for-5, including a solo home run to start a four-run rally and then capped off the comeback with an RBI double in the eighth inning for the go-ahead run in the Wolverines' 6-5 victory over Saint Vincent.
Rose-Hulman split their two games on the opening day of the 2023 HCAC Tournament. Rose-Hulman won the first game 4-3 over Anderson before falling 9-4 to Transylvania in the nightcap. In the first game, the Engineers built an early 3-0 lead, tacking on another run in the second. The game would then settle into a pitchers duel between Michael Yager and Landen Southern of Anderson. The Ravens would tack on a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings thanks to a pair of solo home runs to make the score 4-2. In the ninth inning, the Ravens picked up a pair of hits to knock Yager out of the game. Jonathan Oliger came into the game and gave up a single to cut the lead to 4-3. However, the next batter lined out to the shortstop, and Rose-Hulman was able to double up the runner at first to end the game. The Fightin' Engineers tied their game with the Pioneers in the fifth inning, but Transylvania was able to break the game open with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-4 lead. The Pioneers would tack on two more runs in the eighth and win the game 9-4. The tounament opened with Manchester earning a 11-3 win over Bluffton. With the win, the Spartans earned a date with Franklin. The Grizzlies walked off into the winners bracket with a 7-6 win. Freshman Luke Willmann's one-out double in the bottom of the ninth scored Dyllan Redmon from first base to push the top-seeded Grizzlies (31-10) past sixth-seeded Manchester. The win moves Franklin into a matchup of tournament unbeatens on Friday (May 12), where they will face #2 seed Transylvania.
The 2023 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs got underway on Thursday from Becker Park in Collegeville. No. 4 Bethel upset No. 1 Gustavus, 3-1, in the first contest of the tournament before No. 3 Concordia topped No. 2 Saint John's, 6-4, in the nightcap. Bethel scored twice in the second inning and once more in the sixth to outduel top-seeded Gustavus, 3-1, in the MIAC Playoff opener on Thursday. Royal infielders Jordan Krupke and Nolan Jurgenson each drove home runs with singles in the second inning before Keenan Hodgkin belted a solo home run in the top of the sixth. Concordia outslugged Saint John's by a margin of 6-4 to earn the program's first postseason win since 2015 on Thursday night. Concordia claimed the lead for good with runs in the sixth and seventh. Cobber center fielder Andy Gravdahl went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI in the victory, while right fielder Caiden Kjelstrom added two hits and scored a run of his own.
Lynchburg senior Zack Potts pitched seven innings of shutout ball and earned the win against Randolph-Macon Thursday. The all-conference second-teamer scattered three hits with seven strikeouts and tallied his 10th win of the season as the Hornets took down R-MC 3-0 in the first game of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament championship weekend. In the double-elimination tournament, Lynchburg will take on No. 3 Shenandoah at 1 p.m. Friday in Richmond, Va. on the campus of University of Richmond. No. 2 Shenandoah earned its third win of the ODAC Tournament with an 11-2 victory over Roanoke. Shenandoah (37-6) scored five runs in the third and three more in the seventh to pull away from the Maroons (27-16). In the third, the Hornets combined five hits with a pair of Roanoke errors to score the five runs. Pearce Bucher, one of five SU players to have multiple hits on the day, had an RBI single with Haden Madagan and Ryan Clawson following with the same. This offense was more than enough for starter Jacob Bell. Bell (8-0) scattered four hits and four walks over six innings while striking out seven. Brian Ferreira pitched the seventh and eighth before Tristan Everett had a scoreless ninth to close out the contest. Frankie Ritter is now three hits from the ODAC career record of 272 and five from the Shenandoah record.
The 2023 United East Championship kicked off on Thursday afternoon with two games played in Middletown, Pa. Top-seeded Penn State Harrisburg held home field advantage, defeating No. 4 Lancaster Bible College, 20-2, in the day’s first game. This game seemed like a close battle over the course of the first 2.5 innings as the only scoring was a solo home run from each team but Harrisburg broke things open in the bottom of the third with four runs to make it 5-1. They followed that with 12 more runs over the next three innings, adding an extra three in the eighth frame for good measure. Lancaster Bible was only able to find the plate once more and that wasn’t until the eighth as well. No. 3 Penn State Abington then upset No. 2 Penn College, 16-14, in the evening showdown. Scoring was abundant in this tilt as at least one run was scored by either side in all innings but the eighth. The two sides traded a single run over the course of the first two frames and Abington would go up 2-1 as they added another in the third. The bats then exploded in both dugouts during the fourth as the score would end up in a 6-6 tie going into the fifth.
Aurora dominated their opening game of the 2023 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament against Edgewood, winning 12-1. The Spartans scored in six of the seven innings in a 12-1 victory which was shortened to seven innings due to the mercy 10-run rule. Spartan Jacob Ambuel hit his second home run of the day, a walk-off three-run homer to win the game in the seventh. They are joined with Benedictine as the two undefeated teams in the tournament. Benedictine opened play in the NACC Tournament by erupting for 17 runs to topple MSOE 17-7 in seven innings. Earlier, No. 3 MSOE defeated No. 6 Concordia Chicago 5-3 and No. 4 Edgewood defeated No. 5 Illinois Tech 9-2 as all the top seeded teams won on the day.