Baseball | 5/7/2019 3:38:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT baseball team is the No. 3 seed in the 2019 Liberty League Baseball Championship Tournament, which will take place from Thursday, May 9 to Saturday, May 11 from Towers Field on the campus of the University of Rochester. RIT will take on No. 2 seed Clarkson University in an opening round game at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
The Liberty League playoff format is unchanged for 2019, as the top five teams advanced to the tournament. No. 4 seed Rensselaer will take on No. 5 seed Union, the defending Liberty League Champions in a wild card play-in game on Thursday, May 9 at 11 a.m. The winner moves on to the double-elimination tournament, while the losing team is eliminated.
Rochester, the 2019 Liberty League Regular Season Champion, is the top seed, while Clarkson University is the No. 2 seed and RIT is the third seed. RIT entered the final day of the regular season atop the league standings before Rochester jumped ahead.
RIT enters the tournament with a 21-16 overall record, while finishing 15-7 in Liberty League play. The Tigers clinched a postseason berth on the strength of an eight-game winning streak in league play from April 19 to May 4. The Tigers are looking for their second Liberty League Championship in three seasons.
The Tigers are out-scoring their opponents, 239-213 this season.
Luke McNamara (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) leads the Tigers with a .333 batting average, while
Daniel Zeglen (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) is right behind with a .321 average, three home runs and 32 RBI.
Patrick Mylott (Aurora, OH/Western Reserve Academy) is hitting .318 and is among the Liberty League leaders with a .458 on-base percentage. First-year
Patrick Blackall (Hershey, PA/Hershey) leads the Tigers with five home runs and has driven in 37 runs, which tops the Liberty League. Overall, RIT has six batters hitting over .300 and is second among all Liberty League schools in runs scored, second in doubles (72) and first with 216 RBI.
Stevie Branche (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) has enjoyed a tremendous season to date on the mound with a 5-2 mark to go along with Liberty League leading totals of 60 strikeouts, 63 innings pitched and two shutouts, while allowing opposing batters to hit just .189, which is by far the lowest in the league. He is second among all pitchers with an impressive 1.71 earned run average. RIT boasts perhaps the deepest pitching staff of the teams remaining. Zeglen has three wins in seven starts on the mound, while
Jon Opalewski (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) has earned four wins in 16 appearances out of the bullpen.
John Mikolaicyk (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta),
Collin Reformat (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster),
Michael Campbell (Honeoye Falls, NY/McQuaid Jesuit),
Trevor Povlock (Fairport, NY/Fairport),
Liam Barry (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) and
Matt Vitro (Carmel, NY/Carmel) will also be called upon in the tournament.
Clarkson, Thursday's opponent, enters the tournament with a 21-15 overall mark, finishing 15-7 in Liberty League play to tie RIT for second in the standings. The Golden Knights enter the tournament with the highest batting average (.298) and most runs scored (249) among all Liberty League teams. Vincent Granuzzo leads Clarkson with a .374 batting average and a .466 on-base percentage, while Brad Pearson has 18 doubles, three homers and 33 RBI. Ryan Riley has started 10 games on the mound for Clarkson and is 6-4 with a 2.92 ERA and 56 strikeouts. Nate Burns is 2-0 with a league-best 1.22 ERA in 44 innings over 12 appearances.
Top-seed Rochester won the Liberty League regular season title by going 17-7 in conference play en route to a 24-14 overall record. Rochester enters the tournament having won nine straight league games to end the regular season. The Yellowjackets are hitting .288 as a team and are out-scoring opponents, 213-160. Jacob Matzat leads the team with a .371 batting average and .470 on-base percentage, while Jack Herman has six home runs. Aiden Finch is hitting .339 with 13 doubles, three homers and 31 RBI. On the mound, Garrett Renslow, Jon Turk and Jack Denzer have combined for 13 wins and 130 strikeouts in 149 innings, while Brendan Shamieh leads all Liberty League pitchers with six saves to go along with 32 strikeouts and a 1.71 ERA out of the bullpen.
Rensselaer is the number four seed in the tournament with a 19-17 overall record and 15-9 mark in league play. Joseph Curci has a team-best .353 batting average, with two homers and 33 RBI. Cole Paquin has a .450 on-base percentage, while Jake Defayette leads the team with a .495 slugging percentage. Brendan McNerney has three wins and a team-best 2.88 earned run average, while Ryan Yerby and Christopher Palmiero have five wins apiece.
No. 5 seed Union, the defending Liberty League Champion, enters the tournament with a 14-10 record in Liberty League play. Sean Cullen has a .410 batting average and .649 slugging percentage to go along with six home runs and 27 RBI. Jack Koch has a .345 batting average and 17 stolen bases, while Elias Kuhns has six homers. Colin Nye is 4-2 on the mound with a 2.34 ERA, while Chris Murdock also has four wins.
The Tigers went a combined 9-7 versus teams in the Liberty League Championship Tournament. RIT split four-game series' against both Rochester, Clarkson and Rensselaer and went 3-1 against Union. The Tigers were the only team in the Liberty League to face the other four playoff teams in 2019.
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 2019 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.
Below is the 2019 Liberty League Championship schedule.
THURSDAY, MAY 9:
WILD CARD PLAY-IN GAME: 11 a.m. - #4 RPI vs #5 Union (This contest is single elimination)
GAME 1: 2 p.m. - #2 Clarkson vs. #3 RIT
GAME 2: 5 p.m. - #1 Rochester vs. Play-in game winner
FRIDAY, MAY 10:
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 11:
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)
