baseball

May 7: St. Lawrence University junior third baseman Ryan Duff and senior pitcher Steve Bodnar earned All Liberty League honors in voting by the league's coaches.

May 3: Austin Pitkin pitched a two-hit shutout in a 2-0 game one win and Mike Bresett drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the tenth as Clarkson ended St. Lawrence University's baseball season with a 4-3 10-inning win in game two of a Liberty League doubleheader in Potsdam on Sunday.

The Saints, who needed to sweep the Knights to stay alive in the race for a Liberty League playoff spot, finish the year 17-18 overall and 10-14 in league play. Clarkson will take a 18-18 overall mark and a 12-9 league record into tournament play next weekend.

Pitkin walked one and struck out seven in a pitching duel with the Saints Chris Cook in game one. Cook allowed one earned run, four hits and struck out five with no walks.

Matt Giordano scored the only run Pitkin was to need when he led off the game with a triple and scored on an outfield error. The Knights added a second run in the bottom of the fifth on a hit batter and Steve Magovny's double.

Garrett Fitzgerald got the first Saint hit in the third, a leadoff single, but was erased on a double play and Ryan Duff hit a one-out single in the seventh, but Pitkin got out o trouble with a foul out and a fielder's choice to end the game.

Clarkson outhit the Saints 17-8 in game two, but needed an extra inning to come away with the 4-3 win,

Jason Conde, the sixth Saint pitcher of the game, took the loss as Bresett followed two walks with the game-winning single.

MAY 2: Steve Bodnar pitched a one-hit shutout as St. Lawrence University won game one of a Liberty League doubleheader with Clarkson 4-0 on Saturday, but the Golden Knights came back to win the nightcap 4-2.

The two teams, each in the thick of the race for a Liberty League playoff spot, will meet again at noon Sunday in Potdam. SLU, 17-16 overall and 10-12 in league play needs a sweep of the Knights to jump into the fourth and final playoff spot. Clarkson, 16-18, 10-9, can hold onto that spot with one win in Sunday's set.

Bodnar struck out six and walked two in his game one gem, allowing only a fourth inning double to Brady Torbitt. The Saints took the lead with a run in the bottom of the third as Garrett Fitzgerald walked against Clarkson's Rick Biitner, moved to second on Chris Donaldson's ground out, went to third on Bryan Brennan's fly ball and scored on Sam Kelly's two-out double to left.

The Saints added three runs in the bottom of the sixth for insurance as Ryan Duff singled home one run with two out, Tim Harris doubled and Kirk Shimkin hit a two-run single.

Clarkson jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead against Saint starter Sean Voss in the second game and David Goerold shut the Saints out for six innings in Clarkson's 4-2 second game win. The Knights tacked on a run in the fifth and another in the ninth for a 4-0 lead before the Saints rallied for two in the bottom of the ninth.

April 26: St. Lawrence University's baseball team kept its Liberty League playoff hopes alive with a double header split at Union Sunday, dropping game one 4-1, but bouncing back with a 7-6 win in game two.

The Saints, 16-15 overall and 9-11 in league play are currently fifth in the Liberty League and need a big weekend against arch-rival Clarkson in the final weekend of the regular season to leapfrog the Knights and grab the fourth seed in the Liberty League tournament. The Saints and Knights will play in Canton on Saturday and in Potsdam at Sunday with both doubleheaders starting at 12. SLU will play at Ithaca in a non-league game on Tuesday in the final week of the regular season.

Union's Josh McKelliga threw a four hitter in the first game, striking out three and Pat Wilson had a homer among three hits. Union jumped out to a 4-0 lead against the Saints, who were the home team in the Sunday series, and went on to hand Chris Cook his first loss after three straight wins. The Saints scored their lone run in the bottom of the fourth as Tim Harris hit his third homer of the season.

Union took a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth in game two, but the Saints came back to win it in the bottom of the night. Bryan Brennan started the winning rally with a single and went to second on an error. Sam Kelly then dropped a bunt single to move Brennan to third and Ryan Duff singled to score Brennan, tying the game. Harris then doubled home Kelly for the game-winning run.

April 19: Steve Bodnar allowed one earned run on four hits, striking out 11 in six innings to help St. Lawrence to a 12-3 game one win and Bryan Brennan doubled home the winning run in the top of the seventh as the Saints swept St. Michael's in a non-league doubleheader in Winooski, VT on Sunday.

Bodnar surrendered a run in the bottom of the first, but the Saints came back to tie in the top of the second and took the lead with a three-run third to set the stage for the game one victory.

Sam Kelly went two for four while Tim Harris, Kirt Broedel and Sean Voss drove in two runs each in the first game win. Kyle Donaldson pitched the seventh in relief.

Kirk Shimkin started a two-out rally in the top of the seventh with a double in game two and Brennan promptly doubled him home to put the Saints up 5-4. Matt Landers struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to earn his first win of the season with two winnings of relief. Zach Slater was the starter and gave up four hits and two earned runs as the Saints improved to 13-14 on the season with their third straight win.

Tim Harris went two for three with his third triple of the week and a homer, driving in three runs for the Saints in game two.

April 15: A sore ankle kept Tim Harris off the field on Wednesday night, but unfortunately for Hamilton, it did not keep him out of the batters box.

Harris, who injured his ankle in a series against Vassar, ran his hit streak to nine games as he went five for five, scored four times and drove in four runs, hitting three doubles and two triples as the Saints clobbered Hamilton 21-9 under the lights at DeLutis Field in Rome.

The Saints improved to 11-14 overall heading into a Sunday doubleheader at St. Michael's. Hamilton is now 11-11 on the season.

Harris now has 18 hits in his last nine games and is hitting .514 with a .829 slugging percentage in that stretch. He has seven doubles and two triples among his 18 hits. He was joined in Wednesday's hit fest by Ryan Duff, who was four for seven with three runs scored and two driven in, and Kirt Broedel, who drove in four runs on two hits including a homer. The top four in the Saint order, Bryan Brennan, Sam Kelly, Duff and Harris accounted for 13 runs scored and 13 hits as Brennan and Kelly joined Sean Voss, Taylor Engle and Garrett Fitzgerald with two hit nights.

Jason Conde went two innings and was awarded the win as the Saints used seven pitchers in the game. Steve Bodnar, Pat Considine, Zach Slater, Chris Cook, Matt Landers and Kyle Donaldson also saw pitching duty against the Continentals.

April 11: Sophomore pitcher Chris Cook won his fourth game of the season for St. Lawrence in game one of a Liberty League doubleheader with Vassar on Saturday, but the Brewers bounced back to win game two 5-4, earning a split and avoiding a Saint sweep of the four game series.

Vassar, 4-15 overall and 3-10 in the Liberty League took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning and held off a Saint rally in the top of the ninth in the second game win. The Saints, 10-14 overall and 6-10 in league play won game one 8-5.

Cook allowed only one earned run in game one, striking out three and picked up his third straight win. Rookie Kyle Donaldson came on to get the final out in the bottom of the seventh and earned his first collegiate save.

The Saints snapped a 1-1 tie with a six-run top of the sixth inning. Bryan Brennan led it off with a single and a steal of second and then was sacrificed to third by Sam Kelly. Ryan Duff drew a walk and Sean Voss doubled to left, scoring Brennan and moving Duff to third. Kirt Broedel then singled in Duff and Voss scored on Garrett Fitzgerald's ground ball as the throw home was bobbled at the plate. Taylor Engle then walked to load the bases and Chris Donaldson delivered a two-run single to center. Kirk Shimkin finished the scoring with a run-scoring double as the Saints went up 7-1.

April 5: Ryan Duff singled home pinch runner Jason Conde with the winning run with two out in the bottom of the seventh to give St. Lawrence a 5-4 win in game one of a Liberty League doubleheader at Skidmore on Sunday, but the Thoroughbreds bounced back with a 15-hit attack in a 11-5 win in game two for a second straight split.

The Saints, now 7-13 overall and 3-9 in league play, are scheduled to play at Plattsburgh Tuesday and for a league set against Vassar at home Friday and Saturday.

Duff was two for four with a run driven in and Garrett Fitzgerald went two for three and drove in two runs in game one. Sean Voss went six innings on the mound and gave up two earned runs while Zach Slater earned the win in relief, pitching a scoreless top of the seventh.

The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Fitzgerald's run-scoring single and a steal of home by Duff, and while Skidmore tied it with two in the top of the second, the Siants went up 4-2 with single runs in the third and fourth. Fitzgerald singled in the run in the third and Taylor Engle doubled home a run in the fourth.

Skidmore tied it with two in the top of the sixth, but the Saints won it when Engle drew a leadoff walk and pinch-runner Conde advanced to second on Bryan Brennan's sacrifice. Duff then delivered a two out single to drive in the winning run.