TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team punched its ticket to the Liberty League championship tournament with a wild 20-13 win over Ithaca this afternoon at Robison Baseball Field, completing the best-of-three crossover sweep.
Ithaca grabbed the early momentum with a solo homer in the second and a four-run third to take a 5-0 lead, but the Engineers immediately started chipping away in the bottom of the third.
Jorge Hitlin singled,
Stephen Koval and
Charlie Lapp followed with base hits, and RPI got on the board on
Charlie Morse's RBI fielder's choice before Koval stole home in the same sequence to make it 5-2.
RPI trimmed it to two in the fourth with aggressive baserunning as
Matt Chotiner walked, moved up on a bunt, then stole home during a sequence that also saw
Alex Coombes steal second, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
The Bombers answered with two in the fifth and then added four more in the sixth to rebuild an 11-6 advantage, but RPI refused to go away and responded with a four-run bottom of the sixth. After Koval reached on an error and Lapp and Morse were hit by pitches, Koval came home on a wild pitch.
Michael Lebenson then delivered a two-run double to right, and
Andrew Crux followed with an RBI single up the middle to pull the Engineers within 11-10.
Ithaca pushed two across in the eighth to make it 13-10, setting the stage for a massive RPI rally in the bottom half. Abdallah and Morse opened with singles and moved into scoring position on wild pitches before Lebenson punched an RBI single to bring home Abdallah.
Chotiner followed with another RBI single, and Crux added a base hit to load the bases. Coombes then ripped a two-run single to tie the game, and after Hitlin laid down a sacrifice bunt, Abdallah crushed a bases-clearing double to center to put RPI in front. Moments later, Lebenson delivered the knockout blow with a three-run homer to center as the Engineers sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 10 times in the inning to break the game open, 20-13.
Michael Lebenson had a monster day at the plate, going 4-for-6 with two doubles, a home run, and nine RBI, while
Walker Abdallah finished with two hits, three runs scored, and three RBI, including the go-ahead bases-clearing double in the eighth.
Charlie Morse scored four times and added an RBI, and Coombes drove in two with the game-tying single during the decisive rally.
Danny Nayvelt earned the win in relief after working 2.0 innings, and
Zac Zajac closed the door in the ninth to finish off the series-clinching victory.
RPI will head to the Liberty League Championship tournament, which runs next Thursday through Saturday's at host RIT.
