Poidomani’s Gem Lifts Stevens in E8 Opening Round
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 11, 2017) – Sophomore
Danny Poidomani carried a shutout into the ninth inning as No. 4 seed Stevens Institute of Technology knocked off top-seed and host No. 22/14 St. John Fisher on the first day of the Empire 8 Tournament on Thursday.
Poidomani allowed just three hits in the first eight innings and walked only two all day. He struck out four to earn his sixth victory of the season. After Poidomani finally ran out of gas in the ninth,
Charlie Ruegger entered in a save situation and slammed the door on the Cardinals via a groundout and flyout with the tying run on deck to pick up his eighth save of the season, moving into second place in the Stevens single-season record book.
"It was a great win today," said Stevens head coach
Kristaps Aldins. "Poidomani was outstanding and our lineup top to bottom battled and had some excellent at bats. It was a true team win and nearly every one of our available positional players contributed in some kind of way. We will certainly enjoy this win today, but also look to turn the page and focus on tomorrow game against wherever it ends up being."
Thursday's game was the first contest in an Empire 8 Tournament that would automatically send the victor to the NCAA Championship. Teh Ducks now move into the winer's bracked of the double-elimination tournament.
Stevens scored its first two runs early after
Shaye Bartnick and
Carlos Leon singled in the second. With two outs,
P.J. Wiegartner poked an RBI basehit the other way into rightfield for a 2-0 lead.
The score stayed there until the fifth, when the first five Duck batters of the frame all reached base.
Michael Mule',
Alex Detweiler and
Harrison Kaye all singled to load the bases and back-to-back RBI walks from
Zeph Walters and Bartnick made the score 4-0. Even the first out of the frame was productive, as
Nolan Bennett launched a sac fly to put the Ducks ahead 5-0.
The fifth-inning rally chased Cardinal starter
Jim Dawson from the game. The sophomore was handed his first loss of the season and is now 6-1 on the year.
Stevens tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth. Detweiler doubled, then Kaye waked. A double steal and an error brought in the first run and an RBI suicide squeeze bunt by
Garrett Wells made the count 7-0.
The extra cushion came in handy:
Ryan Fahy homered to spoil the shutout to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and three more hits in the inning made the contest tight in a hurry. But Ruegger entered and got the final two outs in order to give the Ducks the crucial game one victory.
Detweiler finished with three hits and a walk to pace the Ducks offensively. Leon had two hits and a walk as well. Bartnick also reached base three times
The Ducks will face second-seeded Ithaca College on Friday at 12 p.m. Ithaca defeated Elmira College in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off.