Box Score

CANTON, N.Y. – Sophomore second baseman Andrew Kalish came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team to a, 7-6, victory over Skidmore College, this afternoon, in Liberty League Tournament action from Tom Fay Field. With the win, the Engineers improve to 23-18 overall and advance to the 1pm game tomorrow afternoon. The Thoroughbreds drop to 26 and 15.

With the game tied 6-6 in the top of the ninth, junior Chuck Erickson (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) fought off a number of full count pitches, before ripping a single to right. Pinch hitter Cody Vincent (Catskill, NY/John A. Coleman) then delivered a sacrifice bunt, moving Erickson to second with one away.

Junior Kevin Prosicki (Whippany, NJ/Whippany Park) then served a base-hit to left, moving pinch runner Tyler Listing (West Sand Lake, NY/Averill Park) to third. A throwing error by Skidmore left fielder Brian Lowry (West Hartford, CT/St. George's) allowed Prosicki to move to second.

After an intentional walk to RPI freshman left fielder Jared Jensen (Kingston, NY/Kingston) loaded the bases, Kalish (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) came through with the game-winning hit, slashing an 0-2 pitch through the right side of a drawn in Thoroughbreds infield.

Senior righthander Dan Duval (Middleton, MA/Masconomet) picked up his fifth win, allowing two runs on three hits over 3.2 innings. He struck out five, while walking two.

The Engineers scored the first two runs of the game on a pair of RBI-groundouts from seniors Kyle LaVigne (Ashland, MA/Ashland) and Art Levenson (San Diego, CA/University City). The Thoroughbreds battled back to tie the game at 2-2, with runs in the third and fourth innings, before taking the lead (3-2) in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Lowry.

A two-run double off the bat of Levenson gave RPI a 4-3 lead in the bottom half of the fifth, but Skidmore pulled even (4-4) in the top of the sixth on a run-scoring groundout from junior first baseman Alex Barber (Cambridge, MA/Buckingham Browne & Nichols).

Junior Tanner Boucher (Keene, NH/Keene) gave the Engineers the lead once again, with an RBI-double in the bottom of the sixth, and Levenson tacked on another with a bases-loaded hit by pitch to make it 6-4. Back-to-back run scoring doubles from sophomore Erik Watkins (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury) and senior Zack Rudman (Sudbury, MA/Sudbury) tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh.

The Engineers await the winner of the game between host St. Lawrence and Rochester. That game will take place tomorrow (1pm). Skidmore faces the loser of that contest (9:30am).