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Saints rally in Game 1 with Knights, romp in Game 2, capture Liberty League title

Posted 5/6/12

St. Lawrence University's baseball team rallied from a 5-2 first game deficit to win 6-5 with a run in the bottom of the ninth in game one of a Liberty League doubleheader with arch-rival Clarkson …

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Saints rally in Game 1 with Knights, romp in Game 2, capture Liberty League title

Posted

St. Lawrence University's baseball team rallied from a 5-2 first game deficit to win 6-5 with a run in the bottom of the ninth in game one of a Liberty League doubleheader with arch-rival Clarkson and then completed the Sunday sweep, winning the Liberty League regular season championship in the process, with a 13-1 romp in game two.

The Saints' sweep, coupled with an 8-1 win by Vassar over RPI, gave the Saints the league title by a half game over the Engineers. The Saints will be the top seedand host team for the league tournament which will be played May10-12. SLU established a record for wins in a season as it improves to 26-12 overall. The league regular season title is the first for the Saints.

Senior reliever Kyle Donaldson picked up his second win in as many days in game one as he pitched 3.2 innings of one-hit relief in game one. The Saints tied the game on Khifer O'Connor's two run homer to right in the bottom of the fifth and won it when Matt D'Auteuil was hit by a pitch leading off the ninth, went to second on a wild pitch and was sacrificed to third by Ethan Braddock. Bryan Palermo then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score D'Auteuil with the game-winning run.

Freshman Andrew Schreyack turned in his second straight strong performance on the mound, shutting out the Golden Knights through five and finishing with a four-hitter with six strikeouts and a walk in seven innings and the Saints pounded out a dozen hits including homers by Carter Franz and Paul Piatelli in the 13-1 game two win.

Back to back doubles by Jerry Coleman and pitcher David Kinney and a single by David Wixted scored two Clarkson runs in the top of the first off Saint starter Joe Riley. The Saints came right back with a run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 2-1 as Franz and O'Connor hit back to back doubles and the Saints tied it in the bottom of the second when Matt DeLuca was hit by a pitch, went to third on Taylor Engle's base hit and scored on D'Auteuil's sacrifice fly.

Clarkson went back on top with two in the top of the third as Jerry Coleman homers and Matt Jenack hit a run-scoring triple and the Knights made it 5-2 in the top of the fourth on Kinney's line drive sacrifice fly to left.

The Saints tied it in the bottom of the fifth as D'Auteuil singled and moved to second on a botched pick-off try. Palermo then singled to left, scoring D'Auteuil and O'Connor, who went nine for 16, scored four runs and drove in 16 in the four games against Clarkson, delivered a two run-homer to right to knot the score at five.

Clarkson had runners in scoring position in the sixth and top of the ninth, but Donaldson worked out of trouble both times before the Saints won it in the bottom of the ninth.

Game two was out of reach early as the Saints roughed up Clarkson starter Jerry Coleman with eight hits and seven runs in four innings.

The Saints scored three in the bottom of the first on a run-producing double by O'Connor, a RBI double by Paul Piatelli and a run-producing single by Matt DeLuca. Jeff Kott walked and Piatelli followed with a homer over the fence in the deepest part of center field for a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third and Palermo reached on a wild pitch on a third strike and scored when Franz homered to center for his fifth round-tripper of the year to make it 7-0 after four.

The Saints tacked on six more in the bottom of the fifth with O'Connor, Kott, and Engle driving in runs and another scoring on a passed ball. Clarkson scored its lone run in the top of the sixth as Wixted was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored when Justin Rebhun singled down the third base line.