ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College baseball team will begin its quest to repeat as Liberty League champions this week as the Bombers will travel to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs for the three-day, double elimination tournament. Ithaca will open the first round against the University of Rochester at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 11.
ABOUT THE LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT:
Four teams qualified for this weekend's tournament after winning their respective crossover series – Rochester (27-12), Skidmore (24-14), RIT (19-14) and Ithaca (25-14). Rochester is the No. 1 seed in this year's championship, but was unable to host the tournament, so Skidmore was awarded hosting rights as the No. 2 seed. RIT will serve as the three seed and Ithaca is the fourth seed.
Rochester (vs. Bard), Skidmore (vs. Clarkson) and RIT (vs. Vassar) swept last weekend's crossover series matchups, while Ithaca won in three games at RPI. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
The full schedule for this weekend's championship is listed below.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE:
All game will available via LIVE STATS and WEBCAST.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
TOURNAMENT PROGRAM
LIBERTY LEAGUE STATS
Day 1 (Thursday)
Game 1 - ROCHESTER vs. ITHACA - 1 pm
Game 2 - SKIDMORE vs. RIT - 4 pm
Day 2 (Friday)
Game 3 - Loser G1 vs. Loser G2 - 10 am
Game 4 - Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 - 1 pm
Game 5 - Loser G4 vs. Winner G3 - 4 pm
Day 3 (Saturday)
Game 6 - Winner G4 vs. Winner G5 - 12 pm
Game 7 - Same Teams as G6 - If Necessary
SCOUTING THE BOMBERS:
The Bombers are 25-14 on the season and went 11-6 during the regular season in Liberty League play. Ithaca leads the Liberty League in hits (478), runs scored (342), RBI (311), home runs (42) and slugging percentage (.507), and is second in average (.336). On the mound, IC is tops in ERA (4.77), strikeouts (337) and innings pitched (332.0) and is second in walked allowed (117).
IC took two-of-three against Rochester this season, while RIT beat the Bombers twice. Ithaca has not played Skidmore this season. IC is 59-21 all-time against Rochester, 69-19 vs. RIT and 14-1 against Skidmore.
Louis Fabbo paces the IC offense with a .405 average with 62 hits, while
Garrett Callaghan has belted 13 home runs to go along with 58 RBI, 41 runs and a .384 average.
Ethan Rothstein is hitting .357 with 38 RBI and six homers.
Riley Brawdy and
Gil Merod are both batting over .300 in season in more than 120 at bats.
IC will also look to
Colin Shashaty,
Collin Feeney,
Matt Fabian,
Ryan Laubscher,
Matt Curtis and
Mike Nauta to add offensive production during the tournament.
The pitching staff is led by
Kyle Lambert, who owns a 5-2 record with a 2.88 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 72.0 innings pitched.
Colin Leyner has been the No. 2 starter all season and is 6-4 on the year with 53 strikeouts in 64.0 innings of work, while
Garrett Bell has started nine games over 46.0 innings pitched.
SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS:
*From Rochester Sports Info
Rochester is the conference's top seed after winning the West Division and having the head-to-head series over East champ Skidmore, but is not hosting the postseason tournament. This is because the University of Rochester's Commencement is taking place on Fauver Stadium (adjacent to the baseball field) this weekend.
The Yellowjacket swept Bard in two games during the Liberty League Crossover Series last weekend, winning 10-2 and 9-3 to advance to the Liberty League Tournament for the fifth straight time. UR used six home runs over the two games to power past the Raptors, winning for the 12th time in the last 14 games.
The Yellowjackets are making their 16th appearance in the Liberty League postseason tournament. Rochester has two wins (2019, 2021), three runner-up finishes, three 3rd place results and finished 4th on seven occasions.
UR has played each of the tournament teams in a weekend series this season. Ithaca and RIT are division opponents played 3-game series' with UR, while Skidmore was a non-league two-game matchup last month. Ithaca went 2-1 against the Yellowjackets, Rochester topped RIT 2-1 in that series, while the Yellowjackets also swept Skidmore in the two games hosted in Saratoga Springs. Overall, UR is 5-3 against tourney foes this season.
SCOUTING THE THOROUGHBREDS:
* From Skidmore Sports Info
Skidmore swept Clarkson (23-1, 6-5) in a home crossover series last weekend.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS:
* From RIT Sports Info – FULL PREVIEW
RIT is third in the Liberty League with a .318 batting average, the fifth-best in program history. Bagley ranks ninth in the conference with a .404 batting average, followed by graduate student
Ian Libby (.379) and Reilly (.341). First-year
Jarin Moses is tied for fifth in the Liberty League with six home runs.
On the mound, RIT has held opponents to a league-low .251 batting average and owns the fourth-lowest ERA (5.58). Graduate student
Eric Sipling leads RIT with a 6-0 record and ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.97 ERA while holding opponents to a league-low .186 batting average. Arnold has the league's seventh-best ERA (3.62) and fourth-best opposing batting average (.225). Senior
Alex Slotter ranks sixth in the conference with 51 strikeouts.
The Tigers hold the second-highest fielding percentage in the Liberty League (.964) while committing the fewest errors (43).
