Joe LaPrade went seven strong on the hill, and
Jack Finnegan led the offense with three hits and two RBI as the St. Lawrence University baseball team defeated Union College 5-3 on Saturday afternoon at Buck Ewing A field in Schenectady, N.Y.
St. Lawrence improved to 20-14 overall with the win and punched their ticket to the Liberty League's four-team elimination tournament next weekend. The Saints also reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2013 season with the win.
The Scarlet and Brown jumped on the Garnet Chargers early as Finnegan led the game with a single and was advanced to third on a groundout, followed by a stolen base. Finnegan was brought home by
John Gannon, who hit a sacrifice fly to take the lead.
LaPrade took the bump with the lead in two and was very efficient through the first two innings.
He would get run support at the top of the third as a pair of doubles from Finnegan and
Nolan Widrick brought another run home. It became a 3-0 game in the next at-bat as Gannon singled to shortstop, and an error allowed Widrick to come all the way around to home.
After another one-two-three inning in the bottom of the third,
Mike Siano singled his way aboard before the leadoff hitter Finnegan hammered an 0-1 fastball over the wall in left-center to make it a 5-0 contest.
Union threatened in the bottom of the fourth, capitalizing on a walk and back-to-back singles to push their first run across. LaPrade did well to minimize the damage as he forced a fielder's choice and a flyout in an 11-pitch at-bat.
The Chargers threatened again in the seventh as they pushed the game to 5-3 with a two-RBI single. LaPrade once again did well to not let the inning spiral as he struck out the final batter to keep the two-run lead.
Joshua Polumbo took the ball in relief for the second-straight game and kept Union off of the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth. Then in the bottom of the ninth, the senior forced a groundout, a pop-up, and a flyout to earn the save and send the Saints to the next round of the Liberty League playoffs.
LaPrade finished the day going seven innings, allowing three runs, and striking out three batters, while Polumbo went two innings and gave up no runs on one hit.
Finnegan was electrifying with the bat, going 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, while Widrick also went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
The Saints will head north and begin preparing for next weekend's four-team double elimination tournament, which is scheduled for May 7-9 on the campus of RIT.
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