Baseball Hosts RPI

Will Coleman has a 3-0 record this season. Photo by Tommy Szarka.

With just three weeks left in the regular season, the Clarkson University Baseball team will begin its playoff push by hosting Rensselaer for four games this weekend at Jack Phillips Stadium.

The Golden Knights have a 14-3 overall record and their 8-2 conference record is good enough to put them in third in the Liberty League. The Collegiate Baseball News Poll has the Golden Knights sitting just outside the top 30. Rensselaer is just 14-9 overall, but they have a 13-3 Liberty League record and are in second in the conference.

Clarkson split a doubleheader with RIT on Wednesday, dropping the first game by a score of 7-5 and then winning the second game 3-1. The Golden Knights lead the league in pitching with a team ERA of 2.93, but will be tested this weekend as RPI is the Liberty League leader in batting average with the Engineers hitting .323 on the year. Clarkson has three pitchers of the top six pitchers in the Liberty League in terms of ERA. Juniors Greg Jasek (1.50 ERA) and Joe Rooney (1.59) are fourth and sixth respectively and freshman Will Coleman (1.57) has the fifth best ERA. The trio also has a perfect 8-0 record between them.

On the offensive side, senior John Coleman continues to lead the league in batting average and slugging percentage with .545 and .615 marks. He is also fourth in slugging percentage at .691. Sophomore Chris Miller and senior Nolan Driscoll both had big days at the plate on Wednesday, with each picking up four hits. Miller had three of his hits in the second game and drove in all three Clarkson runs, while Driscoll went 4-5 in the two games and scored two runs.

RPI has struggled against non-league opponents, going just 1-6, but they come in with a 13-3 conference record. The biggest difference has been in pitching, as they have a 3.88 ERA overall, good for third in the Liberty League, but that number drops to 2.92 in conference games, the best mark in the league. They are led by pitchers Greg Echeverria and Sean Conroy who have 0.51 and 0.64 ERAs in conference games. They are also numbers one and two in the Liberty League in overall strikeouts with Conroy at 43 and Echeverria at 41.

The two teams will play two games on Saturday starting at 1:00 pm and then will play another two on Sunday starting at 12:00 noon.

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Players Mentioned

#7 John Coleman: IF/RHP; 6' 3"; Senior; B/R

#15 Nolan Driscoll: IF/LHP; 6' 3"; Senior; L/L

#30 Greg Jasek: RHP/IF; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#11 Chris Miller: OF; 6' 0"; Sophomore; L/L

#8 Will Coleman: RHP/UT; 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R

#13 Joe Rooney: RHP; 6' 0"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#7 John Coleman
: 6' 3"; Senior; B/R
: IF/RHP

#15 Nolan Driscoll
: 6' 3"; Senior; L/L
: IF/LHP

#30 Greg Jasek
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP/IF

#11 Chris Miller
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; L/L
: OF

#8 Will Coleman
: 6' 0"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP/UT

#13 Joe Rooney
: 6' 0"; Junior; R/R
: RHP