FIVE SAINTS EARN LIBERTY LEAGUE HONORS

May 8: Five members of St. Lawrence University’s 2008 baseball team have been named to the Liberty League all star team.

 

Sophomore Ryan Duff was named to the second team at third base, senior Christian Spicer was tabbed for a second team outfield spot and freshman pitcher Chris Cook was named second team relief pitcher.

 

Senior shortstop Andrew Ford and senior catcher Joel Kocan were named to the honorable mention list.

 

The Saints will open the 2008 Liberty League tournament against Rensselaer at Rochester at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

 

 

LASSIAL, DUFF HELP SAINTS TO SWEEP AND PLAYOFF SPOT

May 4: Troy Lassial threw a three-hitter for a 3-1 win in game one and Ryan Duff rapped a single through short to drive in the winning run with none out in the bottom of the ninth as St. Lawrence completed a sweep of arch-rival Clarkson with an 8-7 win, leapfrogging the Knights and into the third seed in the upcoming Liberty League

LASSIAL SHARES PITCHING HONOR Troy Lassial was selected as Liberty League co-Pitcher of the Week after his 3-1 win over Clarkson on Sunday.

tournament.

 

Clarkson, which went into Sunday’s games in the third spot in the Liberty League standings due to the league’s weighted doubleheader system in rained-out games, ended up tied with Skidmore which split a doubleheader with RPI on Sunday, but will be the fourth seed based on tiebreakers.

 

St. Lawrence improved to 19-16 overall and 12-9 in league play with its home sweep. Clarkson, which took two from the Saints in Potsdam on Saturday, is 17-18, 9-11.

 

Lassial improved to 4-3 on the season and shut out Clarkson through five innings in game one. The senior righthander struck out seven and walked two.

 

St. Lawrence took a 1-0 lead in the second against Clarkson starter Austin Pitkin as Joel Kocan worked a walk after a dropped foul ball, was sacrificed to second by Christian Spicer and scored on Garrett Fitzgerald’s double to left.

 

The Saints tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third as Duff singled with two out, Charlie Cannan walked and Kocan singled down the third base line to drive in Duff. Christian Spicer then delivered a single to right to score Cannan and give the Saints a 3-0 lead.

 

Clarkson got one back in the top of the sixth as Sean Griffin doubled with two out and Mike Bresett drove him home with a long single, but Lassial worked out of trouble in that inning and then got out of a two-on, one-out situation in the top of the seventh with a double play ball to seal the win.

 

Sean Voss shut out Clarkson for seven innings in game two, but the Saint bullpen couldn’t hold the lead and the Saints had to stage a bottom of the ninth rally for the win.

 

The Saints took a 1-0 lead off Clarkson’s David Goerold, who pitched a solid game himself, as Tim Harris started the bottom of the third with a one-out single, stole second and went to third when the throw went into center field. Andrew Ford then delivered a single to drive in the run.

 

Voss and Goerold then dueled until the bottom of the seventh when the Saints scored their second run in a near carbon copy of the first. Spicer singled, stole second and went to third when the throw rolled into the outfield and Fitzgerald delivered a sacrifice fly for the run.

 

Clarkson came back to tie it with two in the top of the eighth off Matt Skelly. Brady Torbitt hit a run-scoring double, and while Rob Tole picked a runner off third for the second out, Sam Grainger singled to drive in Torbitt and tie the game.

 

The Saints came right back with four in the bottom of the eighth as singles by Harris and Ford and a Duff walk loaded the bases and brought on Kyle Moldoff in relief for Clarkson. Cannan greeted him with a two run single to center. Kocan then hit a run-scoring ground out and Spicer delivered an rbi single to make it 6-2.

 

The Knights came back one more time as an outfield error opened the door for a five-run top of the ninth. Sean Griffin, Matt Holiday and Cale Giroux had run-producing singles, Torbitt walked to force in a run and the fifth scored on a ground out to give Clarkson it 7-6 lead before Chris Cook came on to slam the door for the Saints.

 

Cook ended up with his fifth win of the season when the Saints rallied for two without Clarkson getting an out in the bottom of the ninth.

 

Joe Shehata looped a single into center field to start the inning and Tim Harris dropped a single just inside the foul line down the right field line with Shehata moving to third. Harris stole second and Ford singled through the hole at second to drive in Shehata with the tying run and move Harris to third. Ford then stole second before Duff singled through the drawn in infield between third and short to plate the deciding run.

 

 

 

 

SAINTS FACE BIG SERIES SUNDAY AFTER CLARKSON SWEEP

May 3: Clarkson University swept the Saint baseball team 6-2 and 8-5 on Saturday to leapfrog the Saints in the Liberty League standings and set up a crucial rematch on Tom Fay Field Sunday afternoon.

 

While Clarkson, now 17-16 overall and 9-9 in league play, moved into third ahead of the Saints, 17-16, 10-9, by virtue of the league’s weighted doubleheader rule. The Saints head into Sunday’s regular season finale tied with Skidmore for the fourth and final playoff spot. Skidmore, which was swept by RPI on Saturday, needs a win to stay alive while both the Saints and Clarkson can earn playoff spots if Skidmore loses both or they split Sunday’s doubleheader.

 

Rick Bittner and Jake Groszewski combined on a seven hitter for the 6-2 win in game one of Saturday’s set and Austin Pitkin hit a three run homer to power the Clarkson offense.

 

Pitkin’s shot gave the Knights a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second. The Saints got one back in the top of the third on Charlie Cannan’s run scoring single and another in the top of the fourth when Joel Kocan singled and scored on Joe Shehata’s sacrifice fly, but Clarkson put it away with two in the bottom of the fifth and added a run in the sixth. Steve Bodnar took the loss on the mound for the Saints while Kocan had two of the seven Saint hits.

 

The Saints grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second in game two on a misplayed sacrifice bunt by Garrett Fitzgerald and Shehata’s run scoring single, but Clarkson came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Pitkin hit his second homer of the day, this one a two-run shot, to make it 4-2 after three and the Knights added two in the fourth and single runs in the fifth and sixth.

 

SLU got one back in the top of the sixth on Kirt Broedel’s run-scoring single and two in the ninth on a run-producing double by Cannan and a ground out by Kocan.

 

Mike Root took the loss for the Saints with relief from Jeff Graceffo. Tim Harris, Cannan and Shehata each had a pair of hits for the Saints in the second game.

 

Sunday’s concluding doubleheader in the series begins at noon.

 

 

 

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