Baseball | 3/8/2021 9:00:00 AM
Five teams will vie for the 2020 Empire 8 Championship, as the upcoming season gets underway with several non-league contests to be played the week of March 8. Empire 8 regular season league play is set to begin on April 2. All five teams will advance to the Empire 8 Championship Tournament, which will take place from May 11-23. The Empire 8 Champion will receive an automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Fans can watch the action all season long, free of charge on
Empire 8 TV.
Team Capsules (Sorted by 2019 Standings)
St. John Fisher
The Cardinals open the 2021 season receiving votes in three Division III national polls. Graduate student Justin Graham was named a 2020 preseason All-American by D3baseball.com. Murphy is rated as the fifth best prospect in Division III by perfect game. Head coach Brandon Potter will look to lift St. John Fisher to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017. Seven different returners hit at least .300 last season. All-Empire 8 returners include 2019 first teamers Tim Geissel and Graham in addition to second team selections Michael Beimel, Brandon Roberts, Ryan Simmons and Kenneth Westbrook. Sophomore Brian Norsen hit .455 with five home runs and 17 RBI in just 11 games in his rookie season.
Utica
Utica has a veteran squad, with 21 seniors and graduate students. The Pioneers are looking to make deep run into the 2021 Empire 8 Tournament. The graduate student duo of outfielder Matthew Leviton and catcher Matthew Fitzgerald will look to lead the Pioneers offense in 2020. Fellow graduate student Griffin Baur and is set lead the Utica rotation. Baur struck out 47 batters in 50 innings in 2019. The Pioneers will have plenty of new faces looking to step up and earn key roles.
Houghton
Houghton looks to make strides after finishing 5-5 in limited action in 2020. The Highlanders return eight returning position players and five starting pitchers, including outfielder David Wessells, an All-Empire 8 first team selection in 2019. Wessells hit .378 in 2019 and reached base at a .471 clip. He also was among the league’s stolen base leaders with 16 in 18 attempts. Junior infielder Zach Parr returns after hitting .333 with nine RBI in 2020. Houghton will have the replace the pitching duo of Brandon Joslin and Griffin Tubbs but have a solid group returning, including Jared Couch and Trevor Ciccotti.
Elmira
The Soaring Eagles return a veteran laden squad for 2021, including junior pitcher Taber Carter, who was named to the 2020 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division III Players to Watch list. In addition, junior shortstop Mason Ryan returns after starting all 36 games in 2019. In addition, seniors Alex Crysler and Mason Weir along with junior Robert Gruber will look to solidify a solid starting rotation.
Keuka
Keuka played just three games last year in Florida before the season was shut down. The Wolves look to revert to their successes in 2019 where they won their third regular season crown in program history. On the mound, the Wolves return two of their top arms from the 2019 season. Graduate student KC Howe and senior Daniel Steve challenged each other in 2019. Steve went 5-1 that year while being named first-team all-conference and while Howe went 4-1. Both posted the best ERA and strikeout seasons in program history. Steve ranked first with a 2.75 earned run average and Howe was second with a 3.23. That was flipped in strikeouts as Howe had 53 Ks to set the program record and Steve was one behind him with 52 on the season.
Final 2019 Empire 8 Baseball Standings
Ithaca (31-9, 16-2 Empire 8) – League Champions ^
St. John Fisher (29-14, 13-5 E8) – 7-4 in 2020
Stevens (18-21, 13-5 E8) *
Utica (15-24, 9-9 E8) – 1-3 in 2020
Houghton (11-22, 6-12 E8) – 5-5 in 2020
Elmira (8-28, 4-14 E8) – 2-12 in 2020
Canton (6-31, 2-16 E8) %
^ Ithaca moved to the Liberty League effective for the 2020 season
*Stevens moved to the MAC Freedom Conference effective for the 2020 season
% SUNY Canton moved to the North Atlantic Conference effective for the 2020 season
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
EMPIRE 8 SOCIAL MEDIA
YouTube –
Facebook –
Twitter –
Instagram