Rochester scored nine runs – four of them unearned – early in the game to rally for a 14-8 victory over St. Lawrence University in the opening round of the Liberty League Baseball Championships at Towers Field.
The victory puts Rochester (29-10) into the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Rochester will play Skidmore College at 1 pm on Saturday. Skidmore defeated Clarkson, 7-6, scoring two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to pull it out. The winner of the Rochester-Skidmore game advances to the championship game on Sunday at 11 am.
St. Lawrence (19-19) meets Clarkson at 10 am Saturday in an elimination game. The St. Lawrence-Clarkson winner will play the Rochester-Skidmore loser at 4 pm Saturday to see which team advances to Sunday's round. The Liberty League champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships which start later next week.
Rochester scored four runs in the third and five more in the fifth to build an 11-4 lead. St. Lawrence used a two-out rally to score four times in the top of the second. Paul Piatelli hit a two-run single. Carter Franz and Ryan Duff drew bases-loaded walks to force in two more runs.
In the bottom of the third, Brian Bezek singled in one run. The tying run came home when Andy Cannon's bases-loaded grounder was booted. Bezek scored when a flyball by Matt Francis to deep center was dropped. Nate Stein drove in the fourth run with an RBI groundout.
St. Lawrence righthander Pat Considine worked in and out of trouble over the first three innings. He struck out the side in the first inning and had five strikeouts through three. He stranded eight baserunners, six in scoring position.
He was chased early in the fourth. Alex Caghan tripled to center and Casey Storme homered to left center. That set off a five-run rally – one unearned – that put Rochester in control.
Dan Ludwig went eight innings for Rochester to pick up his seventh win. He allowed seven hits, six runs (four earned), walked four, and struck out four. SLU scored two runs off Nick Cacciola in the ninth.
For the Saints, Considine allowed eight hits, eight runs (five earned), walked five, and struck out five. Kyle Donaldson pitched the middle three innings, allowing four hits, three runs (two earned), with two walks and two strikeouts. Zach Slater gave up four hits, three runs (all earned) with one walk in two innings.
Matt DeLuca, Tim Harris, and Piatelli each had two RBIs for the Saints. Harris hit a two-run home run off Ludwig in the eighth.
For Rochester, Steve Just had three RBIs. Cannon (who homered in the eighth), Francis, Stein, and Storme each drove in two runs. Rochester had 16 hits. Seven of the nine starters had two apiece.
