For the second consecutive season, the University of Rochester baseball team has secured the Liberty League regular season title and the right to host the conference postseason tournament at Towers Field within the Prince Athletic Complex.

The tournament is scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday, May 9-11 this season and features five teams in a double-elimination format following a wild card play-in game to open the competition.  The four other teams joining top seeded Rochester are #2 Clarkson, #3 RIT, #4 Rensselaer and #5 Union.
 
Four of the five teams are repeat tournament qualifiers, as Clarkson was the lone team not to play in the 2018 championships.  Last season, Union outlasted Rochester in a winner take all game seven of the tournament to claim the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Games are slated to be played on Thursday and Friday at 11 am, 2 pm and 5 pm.  With Saturday's contests scheduled to start at noon and if necessary, 30 minutes following game one.
 
On Thursday, play opens with the wild card contest between RPI and Union, with the loser being eliminated from the tournament.  At 2 pm, Clarkson battles RIT, while Rochester gets the wild card winner in the 5 pm game.
 
Friday's schedule sees the losers from the 2 pm and 5 pm games the previous night play to stay alive in the 11 am contest.  The winners from Thursday's afternoon games meet at 2 pm Friday in an attempt to fast track their way into the championship round.  Friday's final game at 5 pm sees the 2 pm loser and the 11 am winner looking for a spot to take on the 2-0 team in the finals.
 
The 2-0 team will then just need one more win on Saturday to earn the tournament crown.  If the team with one loss wins the noon contest on Saturday, one final winner-take-all game will take place to decide the champion.
 
All games will be available via live stats and will be video streamed live on the Rochester Athletics All-Access page.
 
Here's a preview of each of the tournaments five teams.
 
#1 Seed – University of Rochester (24-14, 17-7 Liberty League)
The Yellowjackets rattled off eight straight wins to close the regular season and claim the conference title for the second season in a row.  Conference sweeps of Union and Bard, one home and one away proved huge as UR finished percentage points ahead of Clarkson in the standings.
 

Offensively, Rochester has four hitters hitting above .300 on the season, led by first-year DH Jacob Matzat (.371).  David Rieth has played multiple positions defensively and has been a key performer at the plate as well, hitting .357 with 21 runs and a team-best 13 doubles.  Back-up catcher Zach Miraz (.340) has come on strong late in the season, while 1B Aiden Finch has a team best 31 RBI, 30 runs scored and is hitting .339.  Junior OF Jake Hertz is the fifth UR hitter above .300, hitting .313 this season.
 
Senior Jack Herman has a team-high six home runs this season, while sophomore Steve Pickering is one of the toughest in the country to strike out, fanning only five times in 112 at bats.  Junior Kyle Trombley has showcased his speed with 17 stolen bases, while playing solid in centerfield for the Yellowjackets.  The first-year middle infield combo of Harper Sy (.282) and Joseph Rende (.270) have gotten over some early season jitters to become reliable bats in the Rochester lineup.
 
On the mound, Rochester boasts a league-leading 3.89 team ERA.  Relief ace Brendan Shamieh has six saves and a 1.71 ERA in 31.2 innings of work, striking out 32 batters.  Dan Agate is 3-0 with a miniscule 0.77 ERA, while Garrett Renslow has settled into UR's #1 starter role, going 4-2 this season with a 2.16 ERA in 41.2 innings.  He has struck out 52 and only walked nine this season.  Jon Turk (5-2, 3.12 ERA) and Jack Denzer (4-4, 3.56 ERA) provide a solid 2-3 punch in the rotation, with first-year Trevor Van Allen now settling in after a season-worth of experience at Rochester.
 
Head coach Joe Reina is in his 18th season guiding Rochester.  His Yellowjackets have captured the Liberty League regular season crown five times during his time at the helm. 
 
#2 Seed – Clarkson University (21-15, 15-7 Liberty League)
Clarkson enters the tournament riding a four-game winning streak, after impressing in a conference sweep of St. Lawrence University where the Golden Knights bats came alive, scoring 44 runs in four games.  Head coach Jim Kane has CU back in the Liberty League tournament following a one year absence.  Kane is in his 19th year coaching the Golden Knights.
 

This season, Clarkson's team batting average is just under .300, sitting at .299 through the teams first 36 games.  Infielder Michael Mieczkowski is hitting .458 (22-48) in 15 games, while the highest batting regular is 1B Vincent Granuzzo who is slashing .374 at the plate.  Big-bopper Brad Pearson is hitting .364 for the Golden Knights and leads the conference with 18 doubles and 37 runs scored, also handling catching duties.  CU has scored a total of 249 runs this season, ranking first in the Liberty League at 6.9 per game.
 
Pitching-wise, Clarkson ranks second in the conference to Rochester with a team ERA of 4.50.  Nate Burns has 12 appearances, 10 out of the bullpen and a 1.22 ERA to go along with a 2-0 record.  He has 47 strikeouts in his 44.1 innings.  Ryan Riley has four complete games and leads the conference with six victories.  He is 6-4 this season with a 2.92 ERA in 52.1 innings.  Righty Jake Scurrah has seven appearances and 27 strikeouts in just 15 innings of work, also sporting a 3.60 ERA.  CU's Mike Bubniak has picked up five wins on the year and has an ERA just north of 4.00 this season.
 
Defensively, the Golden Knights lead the conference with a .968 fielding percentage.  Clarkson has committed just 38 errors in 36 games.  But the Golden Knights could be susceptible to the running game, as opponents have stolen a combined 53 bases against pitchers and catchers this year.
 
#3 Seed – Rochester Institute of Technology (21-16, 15-7 Liberty League)
RIT was holding down first place in the conference standings entering the final weekend, needing three wins to secure the hosting duties for the tournament.  After a sweep on Saturday, the Tigers were in prime position to secure the top seed, but host RPI earned two wins on Sunday, relegating RIT to the #3 seed in the tournament after losing a tiebreaker with Clarkson at 15-7 in the conference.
 

The Tigers and head coach Rob Grow, who is in his 27th season at the helm, earned the Liberty League title two seasons ago.  In 2019, RIT has scored 239 runs (6.5 per game).  Offensively, senior 3B Jason Schulz is hitting .395 (17-43) in 18 games.  Catcher Luke McNamara has a .333 average, 17 runs and 14 RBI.  Three players, P/OF Daniel Zeglen, OF Patrick Mylott and SS Daniel Captra have 10+ doubles and are hitting between .310 and .325.  Freshman 3B Patrick Blackall has a team high 29 runs scored and 37 driven in, including five home runs.  The Tigers do appear vulnerable to the strikeout though, as RIT hitters have fanned 273 times, over seven times per game.
 
On the mound, RIT sports a team ERA of 5.45 after giving up a total of 213 runs in 37 games (5.8 per game).  Ace Stevie Branch leads the rotation with a 5-2 record and 1.71 ERA in 63.0 innings of work.  He has struck out 60, but also has issued 30 walks.  Reliever Jon Opalewski is 4-0 and has a 4.26 ERA in 25.1 innings, appearing in 16 games.  Zeglen is a 2-way player for RIT, both batting and pitching.  He has a 3-0 record and 5.35 ERA in seven starts on the mound.
 
#4 Seed – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (19-17, 15-9 Liberty League)
The Engineers are back in the tournament for the second straight season, but have a new head coach in former assistant Keith Glasser leading the team following Karl Steffen's retirement following the 2018 season.  Glasser's team had an up and down regular season, with its longest winning streak lasting just three games, but also limiting the damage, with a maximum losing streak of four straight in 2019.  Two wins over RIT on the final day of the regular season assured RPI as the home team in the wild card game.  In last season's conference playoffs, the Engineers sneaked in as the five seed, but were eliminated by RIT in the opening game of the tournament.
 

In 2019, sophomore infielder Joseph Curci is the Engineers leading hitter, going 47-133 (.353) at the plate during the regular season. He has 33 RBI which is second in the conference and is also the team leader with 12 doubles.  Teammate Cole Paquin patrols the outfield and has a .352 average, while Jake Defayette had a team-best 28 runs scored and is hitting .347.  RPI hitters strike out nearly seven times per game, but they also have drawn 153 walks this season, which is tied for second in the conference, leading to a team on-base percentage of .381.
 
Senior right hander Brendan McNerney leads the RPI pitching staff this season, going 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA across his six appearances this season.  In his 25 innings, he has 27 strikeouts.  Ryan Yerby and Christopher Palmiero each have five wins on the season and hold down two of RPI's rotation spots, each starting eight contests and have over 47 innings.  Michael Castello has appeared in a team-high 17 games and is tied for the team lead with two saves.
 
#5 Seed – Union College (18-20, 14-10 Liberty League)
Union enters as defending champions, but will have to battle as the away team in all of its games if the Dutchmen want to repeat as conference winners for the seconds straight year.  Union needed to earn more wins than opponent Skidmore in the final series of the year to earn the fifth spot, with the Dutchmen sweeping the Throughbreds four straight to end 14-10 in conference play.
 

Head coach Paul Mound (9th season), relies on his teams power and speed, as Union leads the conference in both home runs (27) and stolen bases (60) in 2019.  Junior 1B Sean Cullen leads the league with a .410 average, playing in all 38 games for the Dutchmen.  He has 33 runs, 6 long balls and 27 RBI.  Senior OF Joe Ganim ended the regular season hitting .355 and 10 stolen bases, while teammate Jack Koch has 26 runs scored and 17 stolen bases in his sophomore campaign.  Union has a team batting average of .307, with five others hitting above .300 during the regular season.  Sophomore Elias Kuhns provides pop with 12 doubles, 6 home runs and 21 RBI.
 
Union's pitching staff is led by junior Colin Nye who has a 4-2 record and 2.34 ERA.  Blake Newcomer has two saves and a 3.31 ERA in a team-best 13 appearances out of the bullpen, while Dominic Nardone leads the team with 44 strikeouts in his 38.1 innings of work.  A total of 12 Dutchmen have logged over 10 innings on the hill this season.