Box Score
Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Junior Patrick Reardon drove in Tom Jebb with a fly ball single to left field with two outs in the eighth inning to break a 7-7 tie and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team defeated Clarkson University, 8-7, to stay alive in the Liberty League Tournament at Robison Field.

RPI, the top seed and 15th-ranked team in the nation, improves to 34-10 but must defeat the Golden Knights a second time on Sunday to claim the tournament title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Clarkson, the third seed, falls to 20-19.

Trailing 7-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, RPI staged a four-run rally to even the score. Senior Jim Devine (Castleton, NY/Columbia) pulled RPI to within 7-5 with a two-run single to right centerfield and sophomore Nic Marchese (Tampa, FL/Chamberlain) tied it with a two-run home run to right field two batters later.

Rensselaer grabbed the lead in the next inning after Jebb (Ticonderoga, NY/Ticonderoga) walked and stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch. Reardon (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute), the Liberty League Player of the Year, drove him in with his hit to left with two outs. Sophomore reliever Mike Cieszko (Stevenson Ranch, CA/William S. Hart) struck out the side in the ninth inning to force the deciding seventh game of the four-team, double-elimination tournament.

Clarkson jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on four hits and an error. After leadoff hitter Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) reached on an miscue, the next five batters got hits. Among them were RBI singles by Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY/Austin Brown) and Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY/Mexico) and a two-run double by Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam).

RPI came back in its half of the first with three runs but the Red Hawks left the bases loaded. Two-out singles by Devine, which scored one run, and, Marchese, which plated two, accounted for the runs before Clarkson starter Greg Chojecki (West Seneca, NY/St. Francis) got out of the jam with a strikeout.

The Golden Knights added three runs in their next two at bats to build a 7-3 advantage. After scoring an unearned run in the second inning, Coleman and Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY/Groton) opened the third inning with back-to-back doubles for a 6-3 lead. David Kinney (Mexico, NY/Mexico) followed with an RBI single to give the visitors the four-run bulge.

Devine was 2 for 3 with two runs and three runs batted in and Marchese was 2 for 4 with a run and four RBI for the Red Hawks. Torbitt (2 for 5, 1 run, 1 RBI) and Coleman (2 for 5, 1 run, 2 RBI) had two hits apiece for Clarkson. Sophomore reliever David Goerold (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) took the loss.