Bombers Headed To Farmingdale For NCAA Baseball Playoffs
ITHACA’S INVITATION: The Ithaca College baseball team (27-8-1) has been selected for the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Bombers are seeded third in the six-team New York Regional, which will be hosted by Farmingdale and the Skyline Conference from Wednesday, May 16 to Saturday, May 19. Ithaca’s first game will be Wednesday against fourth-seeded Misericordia (36-8) at 4:30p.m. Wednesday’s other two games feature top-seeded Cortland (35-7-1) vs. sixth-seeded Castleton State (33-14) at 10 a.m. and second-seeded Farmingdale (29-10) vs. fifth-seeded Skidmore (30-15) at 1:30 p.m. The double-elimination tournament continues on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday, May 20 is the rain date. Ticket prices are $5 general admission and $2 for senior citizens and students.
ITHACA SERIES RESULTS: The Bombers’ only game this spring against the rest of the New York Regional field resulted in a 10-10 tie against Cortland; the game was suspended because of darkness after the eighth inning after the Red Dragons had blown a 10-4 seventh-inning lead and was declared a tie. The Bombers' all-time records against the field are: 78-37-2 against Cortland (including a 4-13 record in NCAA playoff competition); 2-1 against Farmingdale (including a 4-0 Ithaca win in the 2008 New York Regional) and 13-0 against Skidmore (including a pair of Bomber victories in the 2005 New York Regional). Ithaca has never faced Castleton State or Misericordia.
ITHACA vs. 2012 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: The Bombers played seven games against NCAA playoff teams this spring, splitting six games with St. John Fisher (3-3) and tying Cortland.
ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their 34th appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs – more than any other school – and 44th NCAA playoff appearance overall. The Bombers are 96-69 in Division III playoff games and 124-85 overall. Ithaca has appeared in all but three NCAA tournament since the inception of Division III; since then only Marietta has played in more games or won more games than the Bombers. Ithaca has reached the Division III World Series 11 times, winning national titles in 1980 and 1988 and placing second in 1976, 1981 and 1986. The Bombers also played in the College World Series once (1962) and the College Division World Series once (1973). In Coach George Valesente’s 34 years, Ithaca has played in 31 NCAA tournaments, reached the Division III World Series nine times and won two national titles.
THE 2012 PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 56-team playoff field. The 56 teams include 38 winners of conferences whose champions have been awarded automatic qualification (including North Eastern Athletic Conference champion Castleton State, State University of New York Athletic Conference champion Cortland, Skyline Conference champion Farmingdale, Freedom Conference champion Misericordia and Liberty League champion Skidmore), a maximum of 16 teams from those 38 conferences who did not win their conference championship and at least two teams that are either independents or members of conferences whose champions do not receive automatic bids (including Ithaca from the Empire 8). Seven other double-elimination regional tournaments are being held this week (hosted by Christopher Newport University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Kean University, Linfield College, Marietta College, Rhodes College, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The eight regional winners advance to the national finals, a double-elimination tournament to be held Friday, May 25 through Tuesday, May 29 in Appleton, Wis.
ABOUT ITHACA: The Bombers won their 10th Empire 8 title in the past 12 years and have won nine straight. Ithaca ranks among the national leaders in four offensive categories (fourth in doubles, seventh in hit by pitch, 14th in batting average and 26th in scoring) and four pitching categories (12th in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 21st in hits per nine innings, 30th in ERA and 31st in strikeouts per nine innings). Junior Pat Lemmo, the Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year, is 9-1 with five complete games, a 1.91 ERA and has struck out 67 batters in 84.2 innings. Freshman John Prendergast is the nation’s winningest freshman; his 8-0 record matches Ithaca’s school record for wins by a freshman. Prendergast is the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and has compiled a 2.89 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 84 innings. Senior closer Tucker Healy is 3-3 with five saves, a 3.24 ERA and an average of 14.58 strikeouts per nine innings. Ithaca’s seven shutouts and 2.94 walks per nine innings are both the program’s third-best single-season totals. At the plate, the Bombers’ .338 team average is their best mark since the 1988 national championship team batted .341. Sophomore shortstop Tim Locastro is hitting .465, good for ninth nationally. He ranks third in the NCAA in on-base percentage (.577) and fifth in times hit by pitch (a school-record 16). Locastro leads Ithaca with 38 runs, three triples, three home runs and a .693 slugging percentage. Junior catcher Corey Caswell is hitting .407 with a .516 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .449. Senior second baseman Matt Keller has set a school record with 19 doubles while hitting .362 with a .535 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .426. He leads Ithaca with 33 runs batted in. The team’s .962 fielding percentage is the program’s fourth-highest mark.
Complete NCAA playoff field
NCAA NY Regional website