CONTACT: Adam Sopris, a.sopris@hvcc.edu, 518-629-7898 or 518-416-2137
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Saturday, May 13, 2023

The Hudson Valley Community College baseball program earned a berth in the 2023 NJCAA Region 3 Championship tournament for the first time since 2018 after they defeated Genesee 2-0 in the best-of-three sub-regional round on Saturday at Joe Bruno Stadium on the campus of HVCC.

GAME ONE: Hudson Valley 4, Genesee 3 (Final)

Jacob Lapham pitched a gem of a ball game as he paced the Vikings to victory in the opening game of the best-of-three series at 10 a.m. at Joe Bruno Stadium. Lapham was sharp in all aspects of his game as he tossed 7.2 innings and struck out eight batters while giving up just one run on four hits. Ethan Thompson earned the save as he tossed the final 1.1 relief innings, giving up two runs on two hits and one strikeout.

As a team, Hudson Valley tallied six hits with Josh Foglia and Mike Talavera each finishing the opening game with two hits. The team also continued to put pressure on the defense each time they had runners on base. The Vikings combined to steal seven bases, with Talavera leading the charge with three stolen bags.

GAME TWO: Hudson Valley 9, Genesee 7 (Final)

In the second game, the Vikings jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the home half of the first inning, but Genesee responded with five runs over the next two innings to put pressure of the Vikings, as Genesee needed to win the game to force a decisive game-three on Sunday.

However, the Vikings rallied in the home half of the fourth inning with four runs and they did not look back as they closed out the series and advanced to the Region 3 final four tournament. In the fourth inning, the Vikings scored four runs on four hits, including four straight RBIs by Brendan Curry, Aidan Chrysler, Brayden Mann and Jaden Ross.

Genesee managed to tie the game up in the top of the eighth inning on a single by Allis and the game appeared to be heading for extra-innings. In the home half of the eighth, Colin Lynch connected on a 1-0 pitch and clobbered it over the right field fence to give the Vikings the go-ahead run and an 8-7 advantage. Later in the inning, Genesee's pitcher was called for a balk with runners on second and third, allowing Curry to score from third, for a much-needed insurance run.

Jayden Hughes closed out the ninth inning and earned the win after tossing the final 1.2 innings in which he allowed just two hits, zero runs and one walk.

ON DECK:

The final seed have been released and the Vikings will enter the Region 3 tournament as the No. 4 seed and will take on top-seed Herkimer on Friday, May 19 at 2 p.m. at Falcon Park in Auburn, NY.