Baseball | 5/3/2022 1:42:52 PM
Regular Season Champion St. John Fisher College is the top-seed, as four teams will vie for the 2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship, which takes place from Friday, May 6 to Sunday, May 15. The best-of-three semifinals will begin with a doubleheader on Friday, May 6 at the higher seeds. The best-of-three championship round will take place starting with a doubleheader on Friday, May 13 at the highest remaining seed. The Empire 8 Champion earns an automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
The 2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship schedule is below. For the most up to date information on this year's championship, follow the Empire 8 Conference on Twitter (@Empire8).
Final 2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Seeds
#1 – St. John Fisher College (18-2 E8, 26-12 Overall)
#2 – Utica College (12-8 E8, 19-14 Overall)
#3 – Russell Sage College (10-10 E8, 14-24-1 Overall)
#4 – Elmira College (7-12-1 E8, 12-21-1 Overall)
2022 Empire 8 Baseball Championship Schedule
Empire 8 Semifinal Round (Best-of-3, Doubleheader Friday, May 6, If Necessary, Deciding Game Saturday, May 7 or Sunday, May 8
#4 Elmira College at #1 St. John Fisher College – Friday, May 6 – Games 1 and 2 – 12 p.m. (DH)
Game 3 if necessary, Saturday, May 7 – 1 p.m.
#3 Russell Sage College at #2 Utica College – Friday, May 6 – Games 1 and 2 – TBA (DH)
Game 3 if necessary, Saturday, May 7 – TBA
Empire 8 Championship Round (Best-of-3, Doubleheader Friday, May 13, If Necessary, Deciding Game Saturday, May 14 or Sunday, May 15
Winner of Semifinal Round 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal Round 2 – TBA at Highest Remaining Seed
Top-seed St. John Fisher enters the 2021 Championship with a 26-12 overall record. The Cardinals finished 18-2 to capture the 2022 Empire 8 regular season title and are attempting to win their second straight Empire 8 Tournament Championship and fourth overall in program history. Five players are batting at least .300 in 2022. Noah Campanelli is batting .404 with a team-best total of 47 runs scored, 14 doubles, three homers and 35 RBI, while drawing 32 walks and stealing 19 bases. He has an OPS of 1.122 this season. Ben Lavery has team-best totals of nine home runs and 44 runs batted in this season, while Brian Norsen is right behind with eight homers and 42 RBI. The Cardinals have hit a league-high 31 home runs as a team this season, are hitting .306 while averaging 8.73 runs per game. Alec Teska went 5-0 on the mound, allowing just 16 hits and one unearned run in 31 innings of work with four shutouts during league play. Connor McHugh, Ryan O’Mara and Russell Dunlap have combined to go 12-0 in league play on the mound. Overall, the Cardinals have recorded nine shutouts.
Utica enters the tournament with a 19-14 overall mark in 2022, having finished 12-8 in league play. The Pioneers are in the E8 Tournament for the fifth time in program history and attempting to win their first league crown. Joe Crossley Battista leads the Pioneers with a .382 batting average, .488 on-base percentage and 1.057 OPS, to go along with two home runs and 24 RBI. Joe Battista is batting .342 with a team-best .613 slugging percentage, 1.043 OPS with 18 extra base hits, including four homers and 30 RBI. Michael Muentener has scored a team-high 33 runs and walked 22 times, while Brendan May has three homers and 27 RBI. Six Utica starters are batting at least .300 in 2021 and the team is hitting .317 overall, averaging 7.97 runs scored per game. Ryan Cardone is 4-1 for Utica in eight starts with a 2.40 earned run average and 38 strikeouts in 45 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .253 off of him this season. James Roeschlaub has a team-high 42 strikeouts.
Russell Sage earned the No. 3 seed in its first season as a Division III baseball program, finishing 9-11 in league play, while playing 39 regular season contests. Leandro Guzman leads the Gators in hitting with a .301 batting average, 29 runs scored, 28 walks nine doubles to go along with 22 RBI. He has a .449 on-base percentage. Christian Brown has team-best totals of 33 walks, five home runs and 26 RBI, while Andrew Knapp has two homers and 25 RBI. Griffin Snyder leads the Gators with four wins on the mound, while Liam Doyle has 34 strikeouts in a team-high 42.1 innings.
Elmira earned the No. 4 seed in the Empire 8 Tournament in dramatic fashion, rallying from a 13-1 deficit after five innings in the regular season finale to stun Russell Sage, 15-14. The Soaring Eagles are in the E8 Tourney for the fourth time in program history. Joe Morrone leads the Soaring Eagles with a .327 batting average with two home runs and 20 RBI, while Brett Warden is right behind, hitting .322 with a team-best .944 OPS, 16 extra base hits, 25 runs scored and 17 RBI. Jourdan Plaisted, fresh off of setting Elmira’s single-game records with five hits and six RBI, has a team-best .442 on-base percentage. Angus Adams leads the team with nine games started, 41.1 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts to go along with four wins. David Kruis has excelled out of the bullpen with six saves and a pair of wins, averaging a strikeout per inning pitched.
The top-seed Cardinals won all four previous meetings over Elmira this season. No. 2 Utica won the regular season series over Russell Sage, 3-1, out-scoring the Gators, 34-18.
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.
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