Trio of Gators Make All-E8 Tournament Team
ALBANY, N.Y. – After reaching the finals of the 2025 Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament, a trio from Russell Sage College Baseball earned All-Tournament Team accolades.
ALBANY, N.Y. – After reaching the finals of the 2025 Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament, Russell Sage College Baseball had three student-athletes: junior pitcher Xavier Garcia (Greenfield Center, NY/Saratoga Springs/SUNY Adirondack), senior pitcher/outfielder Evan Grimes (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa/SUNY Adirondack) and outfielder James Lubanski (Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber), a graduate student, earn All-Tournament Team accolades.
Grimes and Garcia provided the Gators, which set program single-season records for victories and E8 wins this spring, with complete games on Friday.
The day opened with Garcia and the second-seeded Gators dropping a 1-0 pitchers' duel to No. 12 SUNY Brockport, and its Conference Pitcher of the Year.
Garcia held the top offense in the Conference, which would eventually capture the Tournament title, to just six hits and tallied six strikeouts. 67 of the righty's 111 pitches were strikes across the eight innings of work.
Immediately facing elimination after falling to the host Golden Eagles, Grimes ensured that RSC would continue its spring with a 4-3 (10 innings) walk-off victory vs. Houghton. He pitched all ten innings, permitting just three hits and striking out 15 Highlanders. 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 earn a rematch with SUNY Brockport for the title on Saturday.
"Evan was phenomenal both on the mound and offensively," said Nick Pontari, the 2024 Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year, following the game. "He commanded the game on the mound, threw competitive pitches all game, and our defense played great, clean baseball behind him all day."
Lubanski paced the RSC bats 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, which just completed 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, which got off to a 12-0 start in Conference play, set program single-season records for both wins and E8 Conference victories…The Gators clinched a spot in the E8 Championship Tournament for the fourth time in as many seasons with an April 23rd win vs. SUNY Poly...RSC reached the finals of the Tournament, held May 8-10 at No. 12 SUNY Brockport…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...10 Gators earn All-Conference honors...Grimes and senior shortstop Zachary Figueras (Apopka, FL/Windermere) were both voted to the first team...Grimes, who was voted first team for outfield and second team for utility, slashed .333/.444./.529 on the season with five home runs, 31 runs batted in, and 16 stolen bases, finishing in the top ten in the E8 in hits, home runs, at bats, walks, and stolen bases. On the mound, the senior threw 54 1/3 innings while striking out 62 batters and pitching to a 4.14 earned run average...HE finished fifth in the conference in earned run average, fourth in opposing batting average, and fourth in strikeouts...Figueras, one of the ten remaining members of the original RSC baseball team, finished his senior season with a slash line of .343/.439/.562 with three home runs and 33 RBIs. The shortstop was in the top ten in multiple categories across the conference, including runs scored and doubles...Lubanski, senior first baseman Jeff Stearns(Vergennes, VT/Vergennes Union), senior relief pitcher Jaylen Cuevas (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) and Grimes were the four Gators named to the second team...Lubanski, the program's all-time leader in RBI (132), hits (157) and doubles (44), finished his season with a .352 average and 50 runs batted in, both of which were Gator-highs, while hitting two home runs...The graduate student found himself in the top-ten among the conference in hits, RBIs, and doubles...Stearns, who missed some time due to injury, still found himself among the top hitters in the Empire 8...The senior improved his program-best in home runs, hitting six on the season, which was good for a tie for fifth in the conference...The first baseman finished tenth in the conference in runs batted in with 38 in his shortened sample size...Cuevas, one of the ten remaining members of the original RSC baseball team, was a force in the bullpen for the Gators...The senior tallied 35 innings with just one start and finished with a 31:9 strikeout to walk ratio...On the third team, junior catcher Colin Casey (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro/Saint Rose), starting pitcher Joe DeGroot (Clay, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse), a grad student, and junior relief pitcher Aidan Green (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro/Onondaga CC) represented RSC.
