TROY, NY – The RIT baseball team (21-12, 14-7 Liberty League) officially clinched a Liberty League postseason berth for the first time since joining in 2012, splitting a doubleheader at Rensselaer (22-14, 18-6 Liberty League) on Saturday afternoon. RIT rallied to win game one, 9-7, while Rensselaer took game two, 5-2.
RIT cannot host the Liberty League Tournament, but has clinched at least the No. 4 seed. The Tigers still can finish as high as No. 2 or 3, depending on what happens on Sunday.
In game one, RIT scored three times in the bottom of the first inning and held a 4-1 lead after two innings, before Rensselaer came back with one in the third, three in the fourth, and two in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. In the bottom of the sixth inning, RIT scored five times to grab a 9-7 lead.
Down 7-4 in the sixth, RIT did all of their damage with two outs.
Skip Flanagan (Framingham, MA/Bishop Feehan) singled in
Chris Barr (North Wales, PA/North Penn ) to cut the Engineers lead to 7-5. After a double by
CJ Bolorin (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) and intentional walk to
Will Gorman (Nassau, NY/Columbia) loaded the bases,
Brett Kajganich (North Royalton, OH/Holy Name) delivered a pinch hit double down the right field line to drive in two runners, tying the game at 7-7.
Phil Sammon (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) would follow with a single to left center, scoring Gorman and pinch runner
Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) for the deciding runs.
RIT hurler
Conor Herlihy (Geneseo, NY/Geneseo) wiggled out of trouble all afternoon, allowing seven hits and four earned runs, but battled to improve to 5-0 on the season, also striking out five batters in the complete-game effort.
RIT out-hit Rensselaer, 15-11 in the contest. Sammon was 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the RIT attack. Flanagan was 3-for-4 with a run scored, and two RBIs. Barr was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, a double, and a stolen base. Gorman walked twice, scored twice, and drove in his team best 36th run of the season.
Jared Jensen led Rensselaer by going 2-for-4 with his second home run in as many days, two runs scored, and three RBIs. Tim LeSuer, Nick Palmiero, and Shane Matthews had two hits apiece. On the mound, Aaron Kalish took the loss in relief.
In game two, Rensselaer scored three times in the top of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie.
RIT out-hit Rensselaer, 12-9, but left 10 men on base.
Sean Conroy got the win on the mound for Rensselaer, allowing 10 hits and two runs, while striking out nine batters over 7 2/3 innings, throwing a whopping 143 pitches. Adam Kalish got out of the eighth for Rensselaer, while Stephen Schiavone pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Engineers allowing one hit for his second save of the season. LeSuer was 3-for-4 with a double and RBI for Rensselaer.
RIT pitcher
Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield) got the start, allowing six hits and four runs (three earned), while striking out four batters over 5 1/3 innings to take the loss.
Brian Sheridan (Trumansburg, NY/Trumansburg) fired 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, while
Tyler Ramotar (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) got of a bases loaded no-out jam in the top of the ninth inning, needing just three pitches to do so.
Taylor Hogan (Rochester, NY/Brighton) stroked career-high four hits, going 4-for-4 with a run batted in and a stolen base. He now has 98 hits in his RIT career. Sammon was 3-for-4 with RIT's other RBI, while Flanagan was 2-for-4 with his 104th career RBI, moving into sole possession of third all-time at the university. He also tied Gorman for the team lead with 36 RBIs this season.
Yesterday, the Engineers won both games against RIT by scores of 3-2 in eight innings, and 4-1.
The Tigers close out the regular season on Monday with a non-league contest at Tiger Stadium against St. John Fisher at 1 p.m. RIT will find out whom and where they play in the double elimination Liberty Tournament on Monday as well. The tournament will begin on Thursday, May 7 at the site of the highest seed.
