ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team stayed alive this morning with a 9-2 victory over St. Lawrence in an elimination game at the Liberty League championship tournament, but the Engineers' run ended later in the day with a 9-3 loss to Hobart at the RIT Baseball Complex.
RPI controlled the opener against St. Lawrence with timely hitting and a game-breaking sixth inning. After a scoreless first two frames, the Engineers struck first in the third as
Charlie Lapp was hit by a pitch,
Walker Abdallah moved him over with a sacrifice bunt, and
Charlie Morse singled and took second on an error while driving in the game's first run for a 1-0 lead.
St. Lawrence briefly flipped the game in the top of the sixth, using a walk, two hit batters, and a sacrifice fly to score twice and take a 2-1 advantage. RPI responded immediately with a decisive seven-run bottom half that broke it open.
Michael Lebenson was hit by a pitch and
Matt Chotiner walked before
Andrew Crux dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and
Connor Dynan reached on catcher's interference to keep the inning alive.
Jorge Hitlin delivered an RBI single to tie the game,
Stephen Koval followed with a two-run double to put RPI back in front, and Abdallah ripped a two-run single to push the margin to 6-2. The Engineers weren't finished, as Morse singled and Lebenson drilled a two-run double to cap the outburst and make it 8-2.
RPI added one more in the seventh when Dynan doubled to left and later scored on Koval's RBI single up the middle to close the scoring at 9-2. Abdallah and Koval led the offense, as Abdallah went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while Koval finished 2-for-4 with a double and a team-high three RBI. Lebenson added two hits and two RBI, Morse went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, and Hitlin chipped in a pair of hits and an RBI.
Liam Riordan delivered 5.0 strong innings in the opener, allowing just one hit while striking out four, and
Andrew Gaughan earned the win with 3.0 scoreless innings in relief.
Zac Zajac worked a clean ninth to finish off the elimination-game victory.
In the afternoon elimination game against Hobart, RPI came out sharp early and built a 3-1 lead in the third, but the Statesmen used a three-run sixth to tie the game and then pulled away with three more in the seventh and two in the eighth to end the Engineers' tournament run.
After Hobart scored first in the top of the third, RPI answered in the bottom half with a three-run response.
Stephen Koval singled and moved to third on a wild pitch, and
Walker Abdallah drove him in with an RBI single to tie it.
Michael Lebenson then drew a walk, and
Matt Chotiner lined an RBI single to right-center to give RPI the lead before
Andrew Crux followed with another RBI single to make it 3-1.
Hobart evened the game in the sixth with three runs, including an RBI single and an RBI triple, and then delivered the separation in the seventh. A walk and an error opened the door, and a two-run double followed by a sacrifice fly stretched the lead to 7-3. Hobart tacked on two more in the eighth to close out the 9-3 final.
Abdallah led RPI offensively in the finale, going 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk, while Chotiner finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and Crux added a hit and RBI.
Connor Dynan reached base three times with a hit and two walks.
