ALFRED, NY. - The La Roche baseball team captured their seventh straight AMCC regular season title Wednesday afternoon with a split at Alfred State. The Redhawks took game one 6-4 and suffered their first loss of the season in game two, 7-4.
Now 13-1 overall and in conference play, LRU will be the number one seed for the 2021 AMCC Tournament Championship. The Redhawks will host the winner of the #8/9 play in game on Saturday, May 8th at John Arnold Sr. Memorial Field. The play in game is set to take place three days prior.
Game One - La Roche 6, Alfred State 4
Pitching
Junior Zack Oddi pitched his third complete game and picked up his third win of the season to improve to 3-0. In 7.0 innings pitched, Oddi had three strikeouts, no walks, six hits and two earned runs. Oddi has a 2.14 ERA through 21.0 innings pitched this season.
How it Happened
The Pioneers struck first in the bottom of the first on an RBI single to go up 1-0.
La Roche poured in all six of their runs in the top of the third. Alfred State's pitcher hit two batters and then walked three straight to give the Redhawks an easy 2-1 lead. Jay Novak then hit a sacrifice fly to score Hoffman and make it 3-1.
With two runners in scoring position, Philip Pieto cranked a three-run homer over the left field fence to score Jason Swope and Ryan Lynn as LRU took a 6-1 lead.
Alfred State would score another run in the bottom of the third and two more in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-4, but that's as close as they got. Their fifth inning runs were attributed to a La Roche fielding error.
Inside the Box Score
Philip Pieto went 1-for-3 with a game-high three RBI and a HR. Pieto has gone yard in two of LRU's last three games.
Jason Swope, Tristan Tinney and Nathan Stutz were the only other Redhawks to register a hit. No Redhawk had more than one hit.
La Roche tied their season-low with four hits in game one. The good guys have averaged 12.3 hits/game this season. LRU batted a season low .174 (4-23) as a team.
Jason Swope and Ryann Lynn notched RBI's on walks.
Game Two - La Roche 4, Alfred State 7
Pitching
Shawn Marcellus got the start and picked up the loss. In 4.1 innings pitched, Marcellus recorded four strikeouts, four walks and six earned runs.
Jackson Rogers came in for relief. He went 1.2 innings with two strikeouts. Mike Nuzzo pitched the final two innings. He went six batters up six batters down, no walks or K's.
How it Happened
With two outs in the top of the second, Dylan Urban scored Tristan Tinney on an error to get the Redhawks on the board. Tinney scored all the way from first on a dropped ball by the centerfielder. Two batters later, Nathan Stutz hit an RBI single to score Urban.
In the top of the ninth, Urban reached base on a strikeout wild pitch. Ben Dottle drew a walk. Then after a pitching change, Stutz hit a double down the left field line to score both runners.
Alfred State scored four runs in the second, one in the third and two in the fifth.
Game two saw two rain delays in the fifth inning.
Inside the Box Score
Nathan Stutz went 3-for-4 and tied his career-high with three RBI. Stutz also had his fourth double of the year. He had the Redhawks only three RBI.
La Roche's top six batters went 2-24 in game two.
Ryan Lynn went 2-for-5 with a double.
Up Next
La Roche hosts Pitt Bradford on Saturday, May 1st for their final regular season doubleheader. Game one is set to start at 1:00 p.m.