Gators See E8 Tournament Run Come to a Close in Championship Finals
BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Baseball fell 11-0 at No. 12 SUNY Brockport in Saturday's Finals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament Championship.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | X | 11 | 14 | 0 |
BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Baseball fell 11-0 at No. 12 SUNY Brockport in Saturday's Finals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament Championship.
SUNY Brockport (36-3-2/21-1-1 E8),which broke the contest open with eight runs in the eighth, used the long ball to capture the title.
Fifth-year senior outfielder Jason Story punctuated the late outburst with a grand slam, while junior infielder Nick Mahar put the Golden Eagles up 3-0 in the sixth with a two-run blast.
Fifth-year senior Zach Eldred (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia), who opened the day second in the E8 with a 2.13 ERA and atop the Conference in numerous offensive statistical categories, including homers, RBI, hits, and run scored, tossed seven shutout innings to move to 8-0 on the mound. The pitcher/outfielder allowed just two hits and struck out seven Gators.
RSC (27-15/18-6 E8), the two seed, received a double apiece from outfielder James Lubanski (Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber), a graduate student, senior infielder Nick Marsella (New Hyde Park, NY/New Hyde Park Memorial), and senior pitcher/outfielder Evan Grimes (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa/SUNY Adirondack) this afternoon.
Lubanski paced the Gators, which set program single-season records for victories and E8 wins, during the Tournament. The school career leader in RBI, hits, and doubles slashed .438/.563/.526 with three RBI, two doubles and a run scored across the four games.
Gator Bites with Papa John's: RSC, in only its fourth season as a program, built 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 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 E8 Tournament in 2023...RSC, which entered the playoff ranked second in the Conference with a .313 batting average, scored double-digit runs 18 times...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 senior outfielder Jared Russell (Colonie, NY/Colonie), who was named third team All-E8…Junior infielder Anthony Rizzo (Latham, NY/Shaker/HVCC), junior catcher Collin Casey (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro/Saint Rose), and graduate pitcher Frederick Callo (Milton, NY/Marlboro/Utica) headline the newcomers that Head Coach Nick Pontari brought in…Pontari and his staff were named E8 Coaching Staff of the Year in 2024…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...Junior pitcher Xavier Garcia (Greenfield Center, NY/Saratoga Springs/SUNY Adirondack) 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...Senior infielder Zachary Figueras (Apopka, FL/Windermere), 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 (157) and doubles (43)...The grad student began the day 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.
