May 9, 2024

New Paltz, Otterbein gets wild wins

More news about: Marietta | Otterbein | SUNY New Paltz
Top-seeded St. Olaf College eased to an 11-1 run-rule victory over fourth-seeded Saint Mary's University in the opening game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs on Thursday afternoon at CHS Field.
d3photography.com photo by Ryan Colemen

 

Despite seemingly insurmountable odds, the Hawks found a way. Down 10 runs, the State University of New York at New Paltz showed once again the type of team it has been all season. Meticulously chipping away at the hefty deficit, the Hawks came back to earn a 12-11 come-from-behind walk off win over Oswego — thanks to fifth-year Nick Harvey — to earn its way to the winner's bracket in the first day of the SUNYAC Championship Tournament Thursday. "This team is just filled with dogs that grind day in and day out and we are never out of any game," Harvey said. SUNY New Paltz got a standout performance from its bullpen, as freshman Ryan Knieriemen and Liam Ryan came in to pitch the last 6.1 innings for starter Xavier Zykoff and combined to allow just four hits and one earned run to limit the Lakers offense, giving their team the ability to creep back into the game. Cortland took an 11-0 lead after five innings and held off Plattsburgh for a 12-6 victory in the opening game of the four-team SUNYAC baseball tournament.

Mother Nature might not quite be undefeated… but the lady sure has first ballot Hall of Fame numbers. Despite consistent and heavy rain across Thursday afternoon, the show went on to begin the Ohio Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament after the games committee pushed to play on knowing a potential lookahead forecast for Saturday. Top seed Baldwin Wallace beat Ohio Northern 11-3 to begin the day of nastiness at Fisher Field, before Otterbein and Marietta delivered a wild and wacky thriller after first pitch was delayed a full hour because of the lingering elements. The No. 2 seed Cardinals led most of the way before Marietta strung together six runs over its final two at-bats to suddenly lead 7-3 midway through the ninth. In a hectic and admirable conclusion,Otterbein rallied to plate five runs during its last chance and escape with a memorable 8-7 triumph. The Cardinals will now play BW in the winner's game Friday morning before Marietta and ONU square up in an elimination game during lunch time. A third game will follow based on the outcome of the initial two.

Roanoke College outlasted Shenandoah University 11-10 Thursday in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championship Series to advance to the finals of the winners' bracket. There were plenty of heroes Thursday for the Maroons, including Cayden Freels, who scored the winning run on a wild pitch with two outs in the ninth, and Tucker Schiavoni who went 3-5 with a double and a grand slam. Shenandoah rallied after the Maroons scored 10 straight runs with three in the eighth and two in the ninth to tie the game 10-10. Cayden Freels and Sam Schiavoni opened the bottom of the ninth with walks, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up each 90 feet. After a groundout, a wild pitch brought Freels home to end the game. Lynchburg held 19th-ranked and top-seeded Randolph-Macon without a run or a hit at the ODAC Championship.

After day one of the 2024 American Rivers Conference Tournament, top-seeded Coe College (27-14 overall, 18-6 A-R-C) and second-seeded Buena Vista University (28-12 overall, 16-8 A-R-C) were left standing as the undefeated teams in the double elimination tournament to decide the conference’s AQ to the 2024 NCAA Division III Tournament. The day started off with No. 6-seeded Wartburg College Knights defeating No. 3-seeded Luther College Norse by a score of 8-1. In game two, the No. 5-seeded Loras College Knights upended No. 4 University of Dubuque Spartans 4-3. The top-seeded Coe Kohawks defeated Loras 6-4 in the third game of the tournament to advance in the winner’s bracket. Game five saw the No. 3-seeded Luther Norse win 9-8 in walk-off fashion against the Dubuque Spartans, finishing the game in a steady rain. The final game of the day between No. 2-seeded Buena Vista and Wartburg started at 9pm with Beavers defeating the Knights by a score of 3-2.

First year left-handed pitcher Aidan Cardoza allowed two runs in a complete game victory and senior shortstop Mike Maher knocked in a pair of runs to lead number four seed Wheaton College (Mass.) over top-seeded and No. 4 nationally-ranked Salve Regina University, 5-2, this afternoon in the second round of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at in Newport, R.I. The win marks the fourth straight season that the Lyons have won the initial game of the four-team bracket in the NEWMAC Tournament. Wheaton advances to play number three seed Babson College, a 12-10 winner over second-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy, in the winner's bracket game on Saturday. Salve Regina will play Coast Guard in an elimination game on the same day.

Four teams remain in the hunt for the 2024 Little East Conference Championship Tournament title following the opening day of competition at UMass Boston’s Monan Park. The final game of the day would be the final game in the hall of fame career of University of Southern Maine head coach Ed Flaherty. Powered by a dominant showing on the mound from junior pitcher Adam Maher, along with a big-time three-run homer from junior left fielder Chris Kustigian, UMass Dartmouth defeated Southern Maine, 6-0, in first-round Little East Conference Tournament action on Thursday. The Corsairs move on to the second round where they will face Eastern Connecticut on Friday morning. The Huskies were eliminated 4-1 by UMass Boston. Thursday evening's matchup against the Huskies was strictly business from the Beacons' bullpen, with senior Dillon Ryan opening on the mound. Ryan pitched for six innings and gave up no Huskies' runs on just three hits and only two walks. He punched out nine batters against the 27 he faced through 106 pitches. Ryan was relieved by sophomore Justin Defalco, senior Thomas Kierce, and graduate closer Tim Cianciolo. As a bullpen, the Beacons punched out 13 batters in 32 at-bats, and allowed just six hits as a defense for Ryan's sixth win in seven starts, and for Cianciolo's fifth save of the season. Keene State defeated Rhode Island College 10-9 in the late game.

No. 2 nationally-ranked and second-seeded Denison University started its quest for a fifth straight North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 10-2 win over third-seeded DePauw University in the first game of the 2024 tournament at VA Memorial Stadium. In the win, the Big Red hit five home runs, including four two-run home runs, two of which came courtesy of junior Eric Colaco. Colaco was 3-for-4 with four RBI's, three runs scored, two home runs and a double. Noah Leib was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBI's and a double, and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Starting pitcher Will Rettig pitched four innings allowing four hits, two runs, three walks and five strikeouts before Michael Gray (3-0) tossed the next two innings allowing one hit, no runs and one walk to pick up the win. Ryan Starr, Manny Nager and Robbie Lee helped finish off a pitching effort that saw the Big Red shut out the Tigers for the final 6.2 innings of the game.

Junior Chris Gibbs tossed seven innings of one-run ball while senior Camren Varney tied the program record with his sixth career save, as the top-seeded Mitchell College baseball team held off second-seeded Johnson & Wales University 3-1 in the opening game of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship best-of-three series Thursday afternoon at Alumni Field. The Mariners (31-10) will enter Sunday needing just one win to capture the GNAC Championship in their inaugural season in the conference. The second game in the best-of-three series is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am.

Pitching dominated the opening day of the CCS tournament. The #4 Panthers started the Collegiate Conference of the South Postseason Tournament with a 4-2 win over the #3 Piedmont Lions. In seven innings, Dalton Brooks threw a spectacular nine strikeouts and allowed just two runs off of six hits. With tonight's win, the #4 Panthers face #2 Belhaven tomorrow at 4 p.m. Belhaven was an 8-1 winner to advance as Colton Sylvester dominated on the mound and after picking up an extra insurance run on an RBI single from Owen Abney in the 7th, cruised to a complete game victory for the Green and Gold. Maryville shutout Covenant 2-0. Mitchell Grannan started on the bump for MC in the opening-round game, pitching a career-high 7 1/3 scoreless innings. The Sophomore scattered five hits and allowed just two walks while striking out two batters.

Fourth-seeded University of Rochester rode a strong pitching performance from senior Nolan Sparks and plated three runs in the second inning, leading to a 3-1 victory in the opening game of the Liberty League Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Robison Field at Karl Steffen Ballpark. In the game, Sparks became the all-time strikeout leader in Rochester history, getting his 236th career strikeout with his first of the game. The senior did not stop there, fanning 13 RPI batters en route to his second complete game win of the season. Overall, Sparks tossed 126 pitches in the 9-inning effort, allowing six hits with one run and no walks. His lone wild pitch was what caused RPI's run to score following a triple. Ithaca College escaped defeat in the opening game of the Liberty League Championship at RPI as the Bombers came away with an 8-7 victory over Union on a dropped fly ball in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ithaca is now 29-9 on the season and will move on to play Rochester tomorrow at 1 p.m. Ithaca put runners on the corners in the bottom of the ninth on singles by Fabbo and McDonough with one out, and pinch runner Colin Dunn stole second to put two runners in scoring position. A walk to Curtis loaded the bases for Pugliese and catcher's interference brought in a run to make it 7-6. Brawdy stepped to the plate with two outs and won the game with a line drive to right-center, which was dropped, and two runners scored.

The opening games of the 2024 UMAC Tournament took place on Thursday. Both games saw the lower seed upset the higher as the No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets defeated the No. 2 University of Northwestern Eagles 12-0 in the first game of the day and the No. 4 Crown College Polars won an extra-inning pitchers' duel against the No. 1 Bethany Lutheran College Vikings in game two 2-1 in 10 innings. Wisconsin-Superior hit three home runs through the first four innings to leap out to a 6-0 lead. The Yellowjackets went on to score another six runs not through power but instead through savvy baserunning and timely hits. UWS scored in the fifth on a wild pitch to go up 7-0 and then strung together a five-run seventh inning with a leadoff double as the only extra base hit. Cole Ondrus led the Yellowjackets with five RBI in the game, highlighted by a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Aiden Pfeifer pitched a gem on the mound, shutting out the Eagles while only giving up four hits and striking out five in the win. The second game of the day was an incredible pitchers’ duel. Drew Hedtke started for the Vikings and pitched 10.0 innings while striking out 13, giving up no walks, and allowing just one earned run which scored in the extra inning. Tristan Camp got the call for the Polars and pitched 9.0 innings while striking out eight, walking just one, and allowing just one earned run. With both pitchers keeping teams to just one run through nine innings, the game moved to the top of the 10th. In that final inning, Ashton Long hit a go-ahead single for Crown to score Mason Brock. Drew Girtz entered the game in the tenth inning and closed it out by striking out the side.

Westminster (Pa.) junior Ryan Gibbons delivered an impressive start in Thursday afternoon's 2-0 elimination game win over Thiel College. The right-hander allowed six hits and three walks while striking out three in the eight inning, 117-pitch effort. Gibbons evened his record at 4-4 this season. It was his second career elimination game win in the league's championship tournament. Gibbons went six innings and allowed two runs on three hits with five walks and seven strikeouts in an 8-2 victory over Saint Vincent College on May 13, 2022. A pair of home runs keyed the Washington & Jefferson College in its 10-3 victory to knock Waynesburg University out of the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament in Thursday action at Ross Memorial Park.