TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team will be the fifth seed in this weekend's Liberty League Tournament, hosted by the University of Rochester and will begin the competition against fourth seed Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on Thursday morning at 11am. Second seed Union College and third seed Vassar College will also be in action.

The Engineers, who are led by 33rd-year head coach Karl Steffen, are 19-20 overall this season and went 12-11 in Liberty League play. RPI is batting .260 as a ball club, with 57 doubles, four triples and seven home runs. Scoring 180 runs, the Engineers have a .332 slugging percentage and a .350 on-base percentage with 43 stolen bases in 60 attempts. On the hill, RPI has a 4.45 staff earned run average with 327 hits allowed in 319.2 innings. Striking out 285 and walking 147, Rensselaer allows a .265 opponent average.

Individually, senior shortstop Ethann Meister (Santa Teresa, NM/Santa Teresa) is batting .314 (44 for 140) with team-highs in doubles (12), triples (2), home runs (6), runs batted in (29) and slugging percentage (.557). He also has 23 runs scored, a .374 on-base percentage and seven stolen bases. Sophomore Noah Normyle (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) has a team-high .329 average (23 for 70) with four doubles, seven runs and 13 RBI. Junior Michael Arboleda (Wappingers Falls, NY/John Jay) is batting .317 (20 for 63) with three doubles, a homer, 12 runs and 15 RBI, while sophomore Jack Vaccari (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton) has a .297 average (33 for 111) with four doubles, two triples, 15 runs and 12 RBI.

On the mound, junior Brendan McNerney (Ardsley, NY/Ardsley) has a 4-4 record and a team-best 2.60 earned run average in 11 appearances (all starts). He has four complete games, including one shutout and has allowed just 34 hits in 55.1 innings, striking out 71 and walking 36. Opponents are hitting .173 off of the righthander. Sophomore Christopher Palmiero (Patterson, NY/Carmel) is 5-1 with a 2.97 ERA in 11 appearances (9 starts), collecting four complete games (2 shutouts) and has surrendered 58 hits in 60.2 innings. He has 56 strikeouts compared to 17 walks and a .259 opponent average. Classmate Erick Zecha (Keene, NH/Keene) has a 4-4 mark with a 3.16 ERA in 11 appearances (8 starts). With one complete game shutout and one save to his credit, he has given up 57 hits in 57.0 innings striking out 47 and walking 17 with a .263 opponent average. 

Out of the bullpen, senior Nick Pacifico (Newburgh, NY/Wallkill) has a 3-1 record and one save in 13 relief appearances, sporting a 2.92 earned run average. He has allowed 19 hits in 24.2 innings, striking out 19 and walking 11 with a .216 opponent average. Freshman Ryan Yerby (Montara, CA/Half Moon Bay) is 0-1 with a 4.67 ERA in 11 games (10 relief appearances) and has given up 27 hits in 17.1 inning with 17 strikeouts. Classmate Chris Grome (Framingham, MA/Dexter Southfield School) is 2-2 with a 5.27 ERA in a team-high 14 appearances (3 starts). He has allowed 23 hits in 27.1 innings, collecting 23 strikeouts and walking 11.

Rensselaer went 5-7 against teams that qualified for Liberty League Tournament, including 1-3 against Thursday's opponent, RIT. The Tigers took 3 of 4 in a late April series, with RPI's lone victory coming with the support of a complete game from Palmiero, who worked 7.0 innings for a 3-2 win. 

The winner of the "Wild Card" game will face top-seeded Rochester in the third and final game of the day at 5pm. Schedules, live stats and video will be available for all tournament games here.