Baseball | 5/8/2018 11:14:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT baseball team is set to defend its Liberty League title, as the 2018 Liberty League Baseball Championship Tournament will take place from Thursday, May 10 to Saturday, May 12 from Towers Field on the campus of the University of Rochester.
The Liberty League playoff format changed for 2018, as the top five teams advanced instead of top-four in previous years. RIT enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed and will take on No. 5 seed Rensselaer in a wild card play-in game on Thursday, May 10 at 11 a.m. The winner moves on to the double-elimination tournament, while the losing team is eliminated.
2018 Liberty League Regular Season Champion University of Rochester is the No. 1 seed, while Union College is the No. 2 seed and Vassar College is the third seed. Vassar, RIT, Rensselaer and sixth place Clarkson were separated by one-half game. Vassar (.524), RIT (.523) and Rensselaer (.522) had nearly identical winning percentages in league play.
RIT enters the tournament with an 18-15-1 overall record, while finishing 11-10-1 in Liberty League play. The Tigers clinched a postseason berth with a 5-1 win over Rochester on the final day of regular season.
The Tigers are out-scoring their opponents, 175-140 this season.
Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) leads the Tigers with a 3.70 batting average and a tremendous .523 on-base percentage.
Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) has a team-best five home runs and 21 RBIs, while
Benjamin Terzini (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) leads the Liberty League with 24 walks. RIT has 19 home runs in 2018. Zeglen has five, while
Dom Scialabba (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) is second with four and
Jason Schulz (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and
Dalton Murray (Savannah, NY/Clyde-Savannah) have three apiece. RIT is the top fielding team in the conference with 34 errors in 34 games and a .972 fielding percentage.
RIT boasts perhaps the deepest pitching staff of the teams remaining. The Tigers finished the regular season second among all Liberty League teams with a 4.00 ERA and had the lowest batting average against at .257.
Brian Reed (Rochester, NY/Penfield), the 2017 Liberty League Pitcher of the Year, is 5-2 this season with three complete games and 42 strikeouts in 44 2/3 innings.
Brett Bouchard (Fairport, NY/Fairport), a 2017 All-Liberty League first team selection, has enjoyed another tremendous season out of the bullpen with three saves and a 1.96 ERA over 36 2/3 innings. 2017 Liberty League first team pick
Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA and has allowed just six runs over his last 28 innings.
Rensselaer, Thursday's wild-card game opponent, enters the tournament with a 19-20 overall mark, finishing 12-11 in Liberty League play. Ethann Meister leads the Engineers with 20 extra-base hits, including six homers to go along with 29 RBIs and a .557 slugging percentage. Overall, Rensselaer is hitting .260 as a team and its opponents are out-scoring them, 215-180. Brendan McNerney has started 11 games on the mound for Rensselaer and is 4-4 with a 2.60 ERA and a league-best 71 strikeouts in 55 innings. Opponents are hitting just .173 against him. Christopher Palmiero is 5-1 with a 2.97 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 60n 2/3 innings.
Top-seed Rochester won the Liberty League regular season title by going 16-5 in conference play, but lost all 10 of its non-conference contests. The Yellowjackets are hitting .316 as a team and its opponents are out-scoring them, 219-211. Aiden Finch leads the team with a .398 batting average, .511 on-base percentage and .657 slugging percentage, while hitting two homers to go along with 31 RBIs. Jack Herman leads Rochester with three homers and 33 RBIs, while Kyle Trombley leads the Liberty League with 23 stolen bases.
No. 2 seed Union enters the tournament with a 27-10 overall record, including a 17-6 record in Liberty League play. The Dutchmen are by far the top offensive team in the Liberty League, leading the way in batting average (.351), runs (317), hits (433), doubles (105), home runs (29), RBIs (292), total bases (643), on-base percentage (.421) and slugging percentage (.521). They boast the four top hitters in the league. Jack Koch has a .463 batting average and 22 stolen bases, while Colin Kelly leads the league with 12 home runs, 55 RBIs and an .839 slugging percentage. Jake Vesling is 6-1 on the mound with a 2.57 ERA, six complete games and 54 strikeouts in 49 innings pitched. Will Conroy is 3-0 on the mound with a 3.06 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.
Vassar won its final three games to leapfrog RIT and RPI to gain the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The Brewers enter the tournament with an 18-17 overall mark, finishing 11-10 in conference play. Vassar has out-scored its opponents, 197-192 this season. Bryan Rubin has a team-best .368 batting average, while Bobby Kinne leads the team with six homers, 27 RBIs and a .598 slugging percentage. Joe Conti leads Vassar with four wins on the mound, while Mitchell Mullock, Logan Willans and Max Spencer all have ERAs below 3.00.
The Tigers went a combined 7-5 versus teams in the Liberty League Championship Tournament. RIT went 3-1 against Rensselaer on April 21-22 at RIT, 2-2 at Union on March 30-31 and 2-2 in a home-and-home series against Rochester last weekend. RIT and Vassar did not meet this season.
Follow the Liberty League Baseball Championship Tournament all weekend long, as
video,
live scoring, and a
tournament webpage is available. The winner of the Liberty League Tournament receives an automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.
Below is the 2018 Liberty League Championship schedule.
THURSDAY, MAY 10:
WILD CARD PLAY-IN GAME: 11 am - #4 RIT vs #5 RPI (This contest is single elimination)
GAME 1: 2 p.m. - #2 Union vs #3 Vassar
GAME 2: 5 p.m. - #1 Rochester vs Play-in game
FRIDAY, MAY 11:
GAME 3: 11 a.m. - Loser Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2 (elimination game)
GAME 4: 2 p.m. - Winner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2
GAME 5: 5 p.m. – Winner of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4 (elimination game)
SATURDAY, MAY 12:
GAME 6: 12 p.m. – Winner of Game 4 vs Winner of Game 5 (potential elimination game)
GAME 7: Same teams, 30 mins after game 6 (if necessary)
