BB: E8: Empire 8

[John McGraw]

Empire 8 standings

The same. The weather and lack of conference games keeps them pretty much the same as two weeks ago.

Ithaca 3-1 (6); RIT 2-0 (4); St John Fisher 1-3 (2); Utica 0-2 (0)

Remember, the Empire 8 uses the points system. As far as I can tell, RIT and St. John Fisher are playing two today at Dugan Yard. We'll see what the weather has in store for tomorrow.

[John McGraw]

RIT 3 St. John Fisher 1
St. John Fisher 2 RIT 1

Ithaca 3-1 (6); RIT 3-1 (6); St. John Fisher 2-4 (4); Utica 0-2 (0)

[Bob Maxwell]

BIG games at RIT on May 5th and 6th!!!

[John McGraw]

Today...

St. John Fisher 7 Rochester Tech 0
St. John Fisher 8 Rochester Tech 2

Empire 8 Standings...
(remember, we're using the point system)

St. John Fisher 4-4 (8); Ithaca 3-1 (6); RIT 3-3 (6); Utica 0-2 (0)

Ithaca vs. Utica this weekend at Donovan Stadium

[Rowdy Rowdy Bomber]

EHHHHH FOOOTBALL!


RRB is off to Happy Valley today to catch the Penn St. Spring game.  College football in April... who knew?!

Very "Exited"
-RRB-

[John McGraw]

Today at Donovan Stadium.....

Ithaca 12 Utica 6
Ithaca 29 Utica 1

Thank you sir, may I have another? That's the most runs by an Ithaca team since a 37-11 whitewash over Cazenovia in 2005.

With the sweep, Ithaca takes over first place in the Empire 8.

[John McGraw]

Ithaca completes the sweep today at Donovan Stadium

Ithaca 10 Utica 3
Ithaca 6 Utica 0

Empire 8 Standings

Ithaca 7-1 (14); St. John Fisher 4-4 [8];  RIT 3-3 (6); Utica 0-6 (0)

[John McGraw]

Ithaca 6 Rochester 4

[BoomerIL]

John......

Errors kill!!!!  Their fundamentals fell apart.  They are a better team than what they showed the last two days.  The score today might have been the other way if the fundamentals were there.

[John McGraw]

Ithaca 8 Clarkson 3 @ Watertown, New York

[John McGraw]

Empire 8 Saturday scores...

Ithaca 5 Brockport 0
Ithaca 2 Brockport 1

Huge wins for Ithaca, beating a team ranked ahead of them in the regional rankings. That should vault Ithaca into third place behind RPI and Cortland. Busy week for the Bombers coming up with seven games, including the final Empire 8 set with RIT on the road. The upcoming schedule also leads me to believe that Falcon Park in Auburn could again be the host site of the regionals.

4/30 @ Oswego State
5/1 vs. St. Lawrence (Falcon Park)
5/2 vs. Oswego State (Falcon Park)
5/5 @ RIT (2)
5/6 @ RIT (2)

Utica 5 St. John Fisher 2
St. John Fisher 18 Utica 3

Standings

Ithaca 7-1; RIT 5-3; St. John Fisher 5-5; Utica 1-9

[Bob Maxwell]

Big games on the weekend with RIT and Ithaca...

How is RPI rated ahead of those two teams?  just wondering....

[John McGraw]

They should be ahead of RIT. I don't think RIT merits to be in the top five.

Why RPI is ahead of Ithaca? I dunno. Things will even out in the end.

[Bob Maxwell]

I meant ahead of Brockport and Ithaca...

Glad you agree with Ithaca, but I ask the same of Brockport...

[John McGraw]

Oh, hmm, no, they don't deserve to be ahead of Brockport either.

RPI has had a really strange year. This team reminds of the one they had in 2004 that managed to catch lightning in a bottle and win the Liberty (or was it UCAA then) tournament as a low seed. That team limped into the NCAAs and was dispatched by Ithaca and Cortland in the last regional to be played at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy.

The only real losses from last year are Passante and Yarnold. Passante's a bigger loss, because RPI doesn't have that amazing hitter at the top of the line-up that can get on base a lot and change the game with his speed. Pollard's a hell of an athlete, but he's no Passante. Yarnold pitched well for RPI last year and formed a great 1-2 combo with Luke Calzone.

If there's any disappointment this year, it has to be Calzone. He went 10-0 last year and then pitched in the NECBL and he had been one of their better prospects, because of his great stuff as a left-handed pitcher. This year, he hasn't had that same zest. 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA in six starts. The aces of the staff have been freshman John Dreimiller and junior Joe Zongol. Zongol had kind of an underwhelming year last year but this sesaon he's been lights out.

And I think this year a little of RPI's mystique is running low and it has been since the loss to Ithaca at the NCAA regionals last year. The next day, they're blown out of the water by a pesky St. Lawrence team that had won the conference tournament. Surprisingly, St. Lawrence was the team that played Eastern Connecticut the toughest in the Auburn regional.

This year, RPI's struggled in conference. They've split with Rochester and St. Lawrence and aren't dominating the conference like they have in the years past. This could be the second time in the last three years that RPI has not hosted the conference tournament. Skidmore hosted and won the Liberty tournament in 2005 behind Matt and Mike Rivers.

Hell, RPI has struggled out of conference with narrow wins over MCLA and Castleton State and losses to Williams and New Paltz. Traditionally, the Red Hawks defeat all of those four teams by wide margins.

In the end though, RPI is still RPI. If they can get on a role and return their swagger, they'll be a tough out in the Liberty tournament. It's a team that's not used to losing in the conference tournament and has been there before and knows what it takes. They have two more against Skidmore today then Vassar next week. That should put them on a good role into the Liberty tournament at Rochester or Canton.