Box Score
Rochester, N.Y. - Senior lefthander Joe Zongol struck out seven while allowing just five hits in a complete game to lead the Rensselaer baseball team to a 6-1 win over St. Lawrence in the first game of the Liberty League Tournament. Zongol walked three to improve to 9-2 and lower his ERA to 1.62. He is now just five strikeouts shy of the school career record.
The No. 20 Red Hawks improve to 31-10 overall and advance into the winners' bracket of the four-team, double elimination tournament. They face top-seeded Rochester, who defeated fourth-seeded Clarkson, 3-0, at 3:40pm today (May 9). That game will be broadcast live on WRPI, 91.5 FM, and www.wrpi.org. St. Lawrence, the third seed, faces the loser of the game between Rochester and Clarkson on Saturday.
Against the Saints, Rensselaer scored a single run the seventh inning and four more in the eighth to turn a 1-1 tie into the five-run victory at Towers Field.
The Red Hawks took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh on a Jim Devine (Castleton, NY/Columbia) two-out single up the middle that scored Sean Wilkes (Troy, NY/Catholic Central) from second base. Wilkes, who had reached on an infield single, stole second in front of Devine, who delivered the go-ahead hit.
In the four-run eighth inning, the Red Hawks posted five hits, including two extra base knocks. Senior Dan Valentine (Goshen, CT/Avon Old Farms) opened with a double - his school-record 22nd of the season - and scored on a triple by sophomore Camden Mamigonian (Dover, NH/Dover). Senior Ken Carroll (Shelton, CT/Fairfield Prep) followed with a run-scoring single. After a single and a walk loaded the bases, Wilkes plated two more runs with a single to right field.
St. Lawrence had threatened to take the lead in the top of the seventh. After back-to-back, two-out singles from Christian Spicer (Watertown, NY/IHC) and Rob Tole (Gorham, ME/Gorham) put runners on first and third, Zongol (Flower Mound,TX/Southington) got Matt Carrigg (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) to fly out to center field to end the inning.
Offensively, six student-athletes had multiple hits for the Red Hawks, including the first three batters in the lineup. Wilkes, the leadoff hitter, was 3 for 4 with two runs, two RBI and a stolen base; Devine, the second place hitter, was 2 for 5 with an RBI; and Valentine, who batted third, was 3 for 4 with a run and a run batted in. His double broke the record of Joe Ihnatolya (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa), who set the mark in 2006.
Troy Lassial (Ogdensburg, NY/Ogdensburg) took the loss, allowing five runs on 12 hits over 7.1 innings of work. He struck out one and walked none in falling to 4-4.
