Golden Eagles advance to Empire 8 Championship
- Victor Menendez
- 20 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By: Victor Menendez / Sports Director
BROCKPORT, N.Y. -- Brockport Golden Eagles baseball is one win away from being able to call themselves Empire 8 champions. Their 1-0 win over the Russell Sage Gators, fueled by a complete game shutout from starting pitcher Anthony Lapine has put the green and gold on the doorstep of immortality.
"There's not a lot to say besides 'Anthony Lapine'," Golden Eagles head coach Justin Beach said. "One of the best games I've seen thrown all year, and in a long time, honestly. No freebies, he commanded the zone, we played good defense behind him and when he needed to, he made some really good pitches."
Lapine went the full nine innings, striking out eight batters, walking none and allowing just four hits on the day.
The senior is confident that this is the best game he's ever pitched.
"Never done better than this," Lapine said. "[I had a feeling I would be dominant], but not this dominant. It was more of just take it pitch-by-pitch, batter-by-batter. Trusting my defense, letting them get outs for me."
On the other side of the ball, Russell Sage starter Xavier Garcia nearly matched Lapine in terms of dominance, throwing all eight innings for the Gators, giving up just one run while striking out six.
"It's crazy," Lapine said on his duel with Garcia. "It's just a battle back-and-forth, and it fires me up even more."
The only run of the game from either team came in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out RBI single from Golden Eagles shortstop Victor Alongi. After Jason Story led off the inning with an infield single, eventually making it to third base, Alongi blooped a single into right-center to give Brockport a 1-0 lead.
"It was amazing, it was great to get it done," Alongi said. "But I know one through nine in our lineup, anyone would get that job done if they were in that situation too."
Russell Sage had a prime opportunity to tie the game up in the top of the sixth inning when they had the first two batters reach, first on a single and then on an error by first baseman Zach Eldred. However, Lapine was able to sit down the 2-3-4 hitters in the Gators order, as he escaped the inning without any damage.
The Gators had another chance to tie the game in the top of the eighth when Zachary Figueras picked up a one-out double. Once again, Lapine escaped the jam, striking out James Lubanski to complete his Houdini act, jumping off the mound and yelling at his dugout as they yelled right back.
"It gave me so much fire," Lapine said. "I was screaming the whole way into the dugout, it kept me going."
Lapine held that one-run lead for the full nine innings, retiring the 3-4-5 hitters in the ninth inning in order to finish off the game, giving Brockport the win.
"You can't ask for anything better than that, that man's an absolute dog," Alongi said. "I mean, he's just the best pitcher in the country, that's just what it is."
Lapine came into the game with an 8-0 record and a 1.37 ERA, the fifth lowest ERA in the country in DIII coming into today. Those figures improve to 9-0 and 1.19 after today's performance.
With the win, the Golden Eagles advance to the Empire 8 championship game, they also set a program record for most wins in a season with 35.
"[It means] so much," Lapine said. "Coming back from last year (missed the playoffs), we had a rough year. This team... there's something different about this team."
Coach Beach was here for 2004 when the Brockport baseball team went all the way to the DIII college world series. He wasn't shy about comparing the team that year to this year's team.
"Stats don't lie, right?" Beach said. "They now have the most wins in the history of this program. We've had a storied history with a lot of really good teams. These guys are marking their territory as one of the best teams in the history of the program."
The Golden Eagles will face Russell Sage again in the in the Empire 8 championship game(s) tomorrow as they beat Houghton in the elimination game. The Gators need to win two games to win the championship while Brockport just needs to win one with the tournament being double-elimination. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.