ITHACA, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team staved off elimination with a 10-1 victory against Clarkson today in the Liberty League Baseball Championship.
Ian Oehlschlaeger and Julian Scarpa each had a home run and four RBI for the Engineers in the win. Michael Lebenson was an offensive catalyst with a team-leading three hits and three runs as well.
Liam Riordan settled in after an early blemish to go 7.0 innings in a winning effort on the mount. Riordan struck out eight and allowed only two Clarkson base runners in scoring position after surrendering a first-inning home run.
Following Cam Jerrett's solo homer in the bottom of the first to put the Golden Knights on the board first, Scarpa went deep for a three-run shot in the next half inning to put RPI ahead. The Engineers would manufacture two more runs in their next trip to the plate, including a bases-loaded walk to Scarpa to increase the lead to 5-1.
Kameron Levesque produced another run for RPI with sacrifice fly in the seventh before Oehlschlaeger blasted a grand slam in the eighth to blow things open.
Eight of the nine RPI batters reached base multiple times. Oehlschlaeger and Matt Chotiner had two hits each to join Lebenson in the multi-hit club, while Aidan Hicks, Ayush Krishnappa, Levesque, and Scarpa had at hit and at least one walk. Jon Primerano drew a pair of walks as well.
The Engineers will next match up with Skidmore on Saturday, May 10 at 11 AM.