SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Russell Sage College opened the double elimination Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament with a 5-2 loss to visiting Houghton 5-2 this morning at Schenectady's Central Park "A" Diamond.
After the fourth-seeded Highlanders (16-20) went up 5-0 thanks to a four-run fifth, the Gators got one run in the seventh and eighth and loaded the bases in the ninth before falling.
Senior Eddie Cetton (Win, 5-4), among the Conference leaders in innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA, made the support standup, registering eight strikeouts across eight innings of work. The righty tossed 6.2 no-hit innings before running into trouble in the seventh and eighth.
Junior left fielder Evan Grimes (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) got RSC on the board with a seventh inning double to plate junior center fielder Jared Russell (Colonie, NY/Colonie). Outfielder James Lubanski (Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber), a grad student, lofted a sac fly to account for the other RSC marker, while junior pitcher Jaylen Cuevas (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) hurled five shutout frames of relief.
The top-seeded Gators (23-16) will now play either Utica or Saint John Fisher tomorrow at 11:00 AM in an elimination game.
Gator Bites: RSC secured its first Empire 8 Conference regular season championship by sweeping the three-game series from visiting Houghton on May 3 and 4...The Gators have qualified for the E8 Championship Tournament in each of its three seasons as a program, including advancing to the finals of the 2023 edition...RSC, which returned all ten starters from last season, entered the four-team Tournament with the top offense on the circuit in many metrics, including E8-bests of 349 runs scored, a .305 batting average, a .445 slugging percentage, and a .439 on-base percentage...Lubanski and junior pitcher Liam Doyle (West Sayville, NY/Connetquot) headlined the returnees…Lubanski, who holds the program single-season and career records for RBI, was named third-team All-Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association, while Doyle, a righty, topped RSC in innings pitched and ERA last spring…Junior outfielder Brendan Espinal (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) was selected the Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, March 10…He slashed .559/.941/.595 during the team's Florida trip…Espinal totaled 12 runs scored, 10 RBI, 32 bases, and six doubles across the nine games…Espinal closed the regular season top the Conference in batting average (.453), on-base percentage (.551) and on-base plus slugging (1.239)...Left-hander Matthew Denatale (Rhinebeck, NY/Rhinebeck), a grad student, took home E8 Pitcher of the Week on three occasions, for the periods ending April 14, April 28 and May 5…The southpaw (5-4, 1 save) began the Tournament ranked second in the E8 with 57.2 innings pitched and five wins...He combined with Doyle and fellow grad student Joe Degroot (Clay, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) to be three of the top-six E8 leaders in both innings pitched and wins...Each member of the starting trio also ranked in the top-eight among Conference hurlers in ERA...Degroot (6-0), also a left-hander, had a conference-best six victories this spring, while Doyle entered the postseason with a 4-3 record...Junior infielder Jeff Stearnes (Vergennes, VT/Vergennes Union) closed the regular season strong in helping RSC clinch the hosting privileges for the E8 Tournament, earning Conference Player of the Week honors for the periods ending April 28 and May 5...He topped the E8 in homers (10), RBI (52), slugging percentage (.725), while ranking second to Espinal in batting average (.413), on-base percentage (.512), and ops (1.237)...Junior outfielder Jared Russell (Colonie, NY/Colonie) began the week with a Conference-best 32 stolen bases, most by an RSC player in a single-season, while Lubanski led the E8 with 13 doubles and was tied for second with 47 RBI.
Gator Golf: The 19th Annual Gator Golf Classic will be held May 31, 2024. More Information: https://www.sagegators.com/
