Senior
Willie Landman had the lone RBI for the Saints, and juniors
Nolan Widrick and
Jack Finnegan each scored a run, but the St. Lawrence University baseball team ultimately fell 9-2 to RPI in game two of the Liberty League Tournament on the campus of RIT.
St. Lawrence saw their season end at 20-16, while RPI improved to 24-15.
The Scarlet and Brown finished their season above .500 for the first time since the 2014 season, when the team went 19-14.
Things got off to a slow start in the crucial game two contest, with both pitchers rolling through the respective orders early. St. Lawrence had three base runners in the first three innings, but was unable to bring any around to score.
Meanwhile, on the hill,
Joe LaPrade was pitching strongly with a pair of strikeouts in the opening innings.
RPI was the first to the scoreboard in the bottom of the third as a leadoff hit by pitch, followed by a sac bunt and an error, which gave the Engineers the 1-0 lead.
The bats went quiet again until the top of the sixth, where St. Lawrence took the lead with a pair of runs. A leadoff walk from Finnegan and back-to-back hit batsmen loaded the base paths with no outs, and Landman tied the game with a sacrifice fly for the Saints.
A pitch then hit
John Donnellan in the next at-bat to load the bases again, and Widrick would cash in on a wild pitch to give the Scarlet and Brown the lead.
The lead didn't last long, however, as at the bottom of the sixth, RPI was able to take advantage of a hit by pitch, a walk, a catcher's interference, and some timely hitting to take an 8-2 lead.
The Engineers tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 9-2 game, and the Saints were unable to rally and crawl back into the game.
LaPrade went 5.1 innings on the hill, striking out four batters, while
Joshua Polumbo and
Michael Flyzik closed out their St. Lawrence careers, combining to pitch the final 2.2 innings.
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