Gators Go the Extra Inning to Secure Spot in Saturday's Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament Finals
BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Baseball went the extra inning to punch its ticket to Saturday's Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament Finals with a 4-3 10-inning victory vs. Houghton on Friday.
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BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Baseball went the extra inning to punch its ticket to Saturday's Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament Finals with a 4-3 10-inning victory vs. Houghton on Friday.
The Gators, victorious via a walk-off balk, will face host SUNY Brockport, ranked at number 12 in the latest national poll, tomorrow at 11:00 AM, and if necessary at 2:30 PM. RSC (27-14/18-6 E8), comeback walk-off winners for the second-consecutive day, will need to defeat the top-seeded Golden Eagles twice to capture the title.
"It's been a great tournament filled with a ton of exciting baseball between a bunch of competitive teams,"said Head Coach Nick Pontari. "Our guys have been extremely resilient, mentally tough, and have done a great job battling pitch by pitch, situation by situation. The boys will be excited and ready to compete first thing in the morning!"
Facing elimination after falling to SUNY Brockport earlier in the day, senior pitcher Evan Grimes (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa/SUNY Adirondack) ensured that RSC would continue its spring. He pitched all ten innings, permitting just three hits and striking out 15 Highlanders (24-21/11-13 E8). None of the runs that the lefty allowed were earned. He also held Houghton junior infielder Kanta Ueno, the E8 batting champion, hitless in four at-bats.
At the plate, the senior had a two-run double and scored a run, helping the Gators erase a three-run deficit to win.
"Evan was phenomenal both on the mound and offensively," said Pontari, the 2024 Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year. "He commanded the game on the mound, threw competitive pitches all game, and our defense played great, clean baseball behind him all day."
Hits were at a premium in the elimination contest, as the teams combined for just seven hits and all of the runs scored were of the unearned variety. After four innings Houghton had just one hit, while graduate student Ethan Cetton, the 2024 E8 Pitcher of the Year, was no-hitting the Gators.
Both teams broke through with three-run fifths. Grimes plated a pair with a double, while outfielder James Lubanski (Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber) had an RBI single. The graduate student is the program's career leader in RBI, hits, and doubles.
The game-winning run came without the benefit of a hit in the tenth. Lubanski led off with a walk. Following a pair of fielder's choices, it was now senior outfielder Jared Russell (Colonie, NY/Colonie) on first. The program career leader for stolen bases swiped second and moved to third when the catcher's throw went into the outfield. Junior infielder Anthony Rizzo (Latham, NY/Shaker/HVCC) was hit by a pitch to set up the game-ending balk.
The Gators, seeded second, began their day dropping a 1-0 pitchers' duel to SUNY Brockport (35-3-2/21-1-1 E8).
Both hurlers, among the E8 leaders in numerous statistical categories, threw more than 100 pitches to go the distance in the opener.
RSC junior Xavier Garcia (Greenfield Center, NY/Saratoga Springs/SUNY Adirondack) held the top offense in the Conference to just six hits and tallied six strikeouts. 67 of the righty's 111 pitches were strikes across the eight innings of work.
The lone run came via a two-out single by senior shortstop Victor Alongi in the second.
SUNY Brockport senior Anthony Lapine, the Conference leader in innings pitched, strikeouts, ERA, victories and opposing batting average, made the early Golden Eagle run standup. The right-hander permitted just four hits and struck out eight Gators in his complete game shutout.
Senior shortstop Zachary Figueras (Apopka, FL/Windermere) paced RSC with a 2-for-3 effort in the opener.
Gator Bites with Papa John's: RSC, in only its fourth season as a program, looks to build upon the most successful season in program history in 2025…Coming off a 16-2 record in Empire 8 Conference play and an E8 Regular Season Championship, the Gators returned 25 players to go along with 18 newcomers…RSC has set program single-season records for both wins and E8 Conference victories...The Gators got off to a 12-0 start in E8 play the spring…RSC clinched a spot in the E8 Championship Tournament for the fourth time with an April 23rd win vs. SUNY Poly...The Gators also reached the finals of the 2023 E8 Championship Tournament...RSC, which scored double-digit runs 18 times this season, entered the playoffs ranked second in the E8 with a .313 batting average...Lubanski, senior infielder Jeff Stearns (Vergennes, VT/Vergennes Union) , graduate pitcher Joe DeGroot (Clay, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse), and Grimes highlight the returners…Lubanski, Stearns, and Grimes made first team All-E8 Conference, while DeGroot found himself on the second team…Four others earned all-conference honors in 2024, including Russell, who was named third team All-E8…Junior catcher Collin Casey (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro/Saint Rose), Rizzo, and graduate pitcher Frederick Callo (Milton, NY/Marlboro/Utica) headline the newcomers that Head Coach Nick Pontari and his staff, the 2024 E8 Coaching Staff of the Year, brought in…Stearns was selected the E8 Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, March 16…He hit .435 with 10 runs scored, two homers, and 10 RBI across six games… The senior began the playoffs ranked second in the Conference with a .647 slugging percentage...His 1.127 ops and six homers were both fourth on the circuit...DeGroot was chosen the E8 Pitcher of the Week for the period ending Sunday, March 30…He allowed just one hit across six shutout innings to help RSC start E8 play 3-0 at Houghton…The graduate student concluded the regular season with a 3.77 ERA across 57.1 innings pitched, good for fifth and third respectively in the Conference...Garcia was selected the E8 Pitcher of the Week for the periods ending Sunday, April 6 and Sunday, April 13…The lefty allowed zero earned runs and struck out 11 Keuka batters across six innings of work in the home win on April 4…He then tossed seven shutout innings to get the win on April 11 vs. Alfred…Garcia allowed just one hit and whiffed 12 Saxon batters to move to 3-0 in his RSC debut spring…The junior was third among Conference hurlers with 65 strikeouts...Opposing lineups were hitting just .184 off the southpaw, second-worst in the E8… Casey was chosen an E8 Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, May 4…He slashed .583/1.333/.706 with seven runs scored, two homers and seven RBI across the final four games of the regular season...Figueras tied for sixth in the E8 with 43 runs scored, ranked third in the Conference with 14 doubles...Numerous Gators have hit career milestones this season…Lubanski is the program's career leader in RBI (132), hits (156) and doubles (43)...The grad student sat second in the E8 with 50 RBI and fifth with 55 hits...He surpassed the 100 career RBI mark during the three-game series sweep of Alfred and had career hit number 150 on May 4 vs. Elmira…In April, senior outfielder Leandro Guzman (New Britain, CT/New Britain), Russell, and Figueras tallied career hit number 100…On the mound, senior relief pitcher Jaylen Cuevas (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) became the second Gator to record 100 career strikeouts while saving a 4-2 victory vs. Gordon on March 14...He headed into the postseason atop the E8 with three saves.
