TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team has qualified for the 2019 Liberty League Tournament as the fourth seed and will take on fifth seed Union College in the Wild Card Game on Thursday morning (11am), with the winner advancing to face top seed and host University of Rochester in double-elimination play later in the day (5pm).
Led by first-year head coach
Keith Glasser, the Engineers are 19-17 overall, having posted a 15-9 mark in Liberty League play. The Engineers are batting .288 as a team, with 55 doubles, six triples and eight home runs. The have scored 209 runs, while allowing 218 and have compiled a .381 on-base percentage and a .366 slugging percentage. As a team, they are 30 for 35 on stolen base attempts and are sixth in the conference with a .958 fielding percentage.
RPI pitchers have a 5.06 earned run average and a 1.63 WHIP in 286.1 innings. They have allowed 328 hits, with 220 strikeouts and 139 walks, surrendering a .287 opponent average. Starters have combined for five complete games and two shutouts, while the bullpen has five saves.
Individually, sophomore first baseman Josephs Curci (Chicago, IL/University of Chicago High School) leads the team with a .353 batting average (47 for 133), collecting 12 doubles, two home runs, 20 runs scored and 33 runs batted in. He has a .400 on-base percentage and a .489 slugging percentage. Freshman designated hitter
Cole Paquin (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) is right behind him at .352 (38 for 108), with three doubles, a triple, a home run, 26 runs and 18 RBI. He has a .450 on-base percentage and a .426 slugging percentage. Sophomore outfielder
Jake Defayette (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) rounds out the top three hitters at .347 (35 for 101), with nine doubles, two homers, 28 runs and 19 RBI. He has a .430 on-base percentage and a .495 slugging percentage.
On the hill, senior
Brendan McNerney (Ardsley, NY/Ardsley) is 3-0 with a 2.88 earned run average in six appearances (5 starts). He has allowed 15 hits in 25.0 innings, striking out 27 and walking 16, while allowing a .172 opponent average. Sophomore
Ryan Yerby (Montara, CA/Half Moon Bay) is 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA in eight starts, including three complete games and one shutout. He has surrendered 48 hits in 47.1 innings, striking out 39 and walking 17. Junior
Christopher Palmiero (Patterson, NY/Carmel) is 5-1 with a 3.59 ERA in eight starts, including a pair of complete games. Giving up 52 hits in 47.2 innings, he has 25 strikeouts and 12 walks, with a .278 opponent average.
The Engineers, who have made the league tournament in four of the last five years, were the fifth seed last season and fell to RIT in the Wild Card Game, 3-2, at Rochester. This year's tournament also includes second seed Clarkson University and third seed Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), who square off at 2pm on Thursday.
