BB: LL: Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

Not sure if Rochester is in at large contention, but they just got eliminated by RIT in the LL tournament.  Same story every season come playoffs, they have the hitting but run out of pitching pretty quick.

They're a solid maybe. It won't help if Cortland also needs a Pool C and they got bumped into the loser's bracket in the SUNYAC tournament today.

Ithaca, I'm told, is a good Pool C candidate but I would prefer to simply beat RIT once tomorrow and not have to worry about it.

[stlawus]

Looks like Cortland losing the SUNYAC championship knocked Rochester out.  Given the gaudy offensive numbers this year's senior class had every year, pretty disappointing way to go out.  First round exits in the NCAA tournament followed by this season where they didn't make it.  Just shows how important pitching is. 

[jdex]

Ithaca faces Endicott MA (43-7) in Friday/Saturday NCAA tourney best-of-3 Super Regional at Endicott in Beverly MA. Endicott on Monday twice beats Johnson & Wales RI in weather delayed Bridgewater MA Regional.
    Eight Super Regionals qualifying eight teams for World Series in Cedar Rapids IA.

[d3d3d3]

LL POY Jackson Hornung selected by Toronto in 16th round of MLB draft

[UfanBill]

It's baseball season...The news for Union is that they have a new coach. After the retirement of coach Paul Mound after 13 seasons and three LL championships the bench now belongs to John Muller who comes over from Mt. Saint Vincent's. This also means the Garnet are going to be moving back to Schenectady to play at the recently renovated Central Park "A" diamond. Personally I'm going to miss venerable old Shuttleworth Park and so will Liberty League hitters with it's short fences. The A diamond is a all weather turf field and has more conventional fences.

[IC798891]

Ithaca had a rough opening weekend, but has reeled off seven straight wins, including two over Top 25 Arcadia. In years' past, Ithaca's success (or lack thereof) on their spring trips has really mirrored their overall success. So it's encouraging to see

[stlawus]

Lot of graduation losses from last year has the league looking a bit down compared to the last two seasons. Rochester lost a ton including Whitley who is using his 5th year at Richmond. Suspect Ithaca will be the clear #1 until proven otherwise. Union is 6-1 but haven't really played anyone. Pitching has been SLU's downfall the last two seasons in division play, looks like there a couple improvements in that department. Even with Caleb Clark transferring to Endicott the SLU outfield looks pretty solid on defense and at the plate so far.  Surprised at RIT's record but it's still early goings.  Given the results over the last decade you still can't count out RPI and Union. 

[Bartman]

Hobart sweeps SLU this weekend including a game ending triple play in one game. Not bad for the second year of the revival of the baseball program. Also leading the league in pitching. The goal of a .500 season is looking realistic.

[UfanBill]

With the Liberty League playoffs fast approaching the hottest team in the league is Union which has won it's last eight. The 21-6 Garnet have 3 conference games remaining against pesky Skidmore and then we'll see where the tournament seedings shake out. It's been a surprisingly positive first year for new coach John Muller. Union is hitting a league leading .338 as a team and the pitching is rounding into shape. Could the LL championship go through the  U ?

[IC798891]

Just a tough loss for Union yesterday. Had the Bombers where they wanted them, but untimely defensive errors cost them.

Nolan Sparks' elite performance against RPI means the Bombers and Yellow Jackets will play on the winners' side.

Both of the Bombers' options for this game, Jack Picozzi and Danny Drotos, pitched well in wins over Rochester earlier this year. Suspect Rochester with go with Mark Aaronson, who has shown the ability to pitch well against good teams (4 IP, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K against Cortland earlier this year.)

For the elimination game, RPI pitched both Rylan Wade and Julian Fong-McAdams against Union this year, and Wade fared better. Have to think he gets the nod. Suspect we'll see Chris Suter for Union, as he pitched 8 innings against RPI earlier this year.

Union has to rebound mentally though. That's a very tough way to lose a game, and they can't let it carry over.

[IC798891]

Union is just *pounding* RPI right now. Up 8-0 on the backs of three home runs. It could be a lot worse too. After getting up 1-0 in the first, Union loaded the bases with no one out and RPI worked out of the jam. Not looking good for the Engineers

[IC798891]

Ithaca walks off again, with back to back doubles leading off the 13th inning to take a 3-2 win over Rochester.

Crucially, Ithaca only uses two pitchers, which means they'll have some options tomorrow. Danny Drotos probably the starter

Rochester and Union will have to play tonight and then try to beat the Bombers twice tomorrow. Certainly been done before, but it is so, so tough having to play that extra game. I remember 2022, when Rochester and Ithaca played in the finals, and Rochester, having played that extra game (and playing three high scoring ones to that point) simply ran out of arms

[IC798891]

And it's the 4-seed Rochester who will advance to play Ithaca tomorrow for a trip to the NCAAs, as they defeat Union 10-5. Sadly, for Union, it was another dropped fly ball in right field that turned the tide. The Chargers were up 3-0 but Rochester had loaded the bases with one out when a routine fly ball hit to right was dropped, scoring two runs and giving the Yellowjackets life.

The big question for the Yellowjackets, is who will pitch tomorrow. For the opener, my hunch is Jack Subramanian, who has thrown just 16 innings this season, but pitched 5 shutout innings against Ithaca three weeks ago (with the caveat that the Bombers led 7-1 when he entered into the game)

If Rochester were to win that game, it'd certainly be an all hands on deck situation in Game 2. I don't see an obvious name jump out at me, so maybe it's just a bullpen game.

[stlawus]

Union's most likely out of the pool C conversation as well.  29 wins but still won't make the cut.  Gotta sting.   

If Rochester doesn't come up big tomorrow then that will be a huge disappointment for the last 2 senior classes.  Team's finishes to the previous seasons will have got progressively worse, and despite having the insanely gaudy offensive talent they still have not done anything in the NCAA tournament.  No pool C for them this year.

[IC798891]

Ithaca has a very slight Pool C shot if they don't take care of things today, with the wins over Arcadia being the big helper (though their two inexplicable losses to Vassar in the season are really an anchor)