TROY, NY- the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's baseball team suffered a 3-1 setback against Rochester in the first day of the 2024 Liberty League Baseball Championship at Karl Steffen Field.
 
The Engineers lineup was stymied by Rochester starter Nolan Sparks throughout most of the afternoon. Sparks recorded 13 strikeouts on the day, including seven punch outs across his first eight batters faced.

Rochester did all their scoring in a second inning that saw the Yellowjackets post three runs and three hits.

RPI got their lone run in the bottom of the seventh when Joey Saia came home plate on a wild pitch. The Engineers brought the potential-tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings, however the one score would be the only blemish against Sparks on the day.

Saia, Jon Primerano, Martin Marintchev, Kameron Levesque, and Robbie Reddington all provided one hit each to account for the RPI offense.

The Engineers will match up with Union in the 10 am game to start the second day of championship action at Steffen Ballpark. Rochester advances to face Ithaca tomorrow at 1pm.