FISHKILL, N.Y. - Ryan Woods (Jacksonville, Fla./Englewood) got the final five outs for his program-record 11th save as Le Moyne rebounded for a 4-3 win over Niagara in an elimination round game at the 2006 Anaconda Sports MAAC Baseball Championship. The top-seeded Dolphins (38-13) meet No. 2 seed Manhattan on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the conference championship. Le Moyne must beat the Jaspers twice to claim its third crown in four seasons.
After Manhattan dealt Le Moyne a 3-2 lead in the winner's bracket game earlier in the evening, Niagara jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
The Dolphins answered with one run in the third and one in the fifth to trim the deficit to 3-2, then plated a pair of runs in the seventh inning. Sophomore Jamie Rose (Hornell, N.Y./Hornell) led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Keith Connors (Jamesport, N.Y./Commack) bases on balls and a Stephen Crawford (Webster, N.Y./Commack) sacrifice bunt. Rose scored the tying run on Andy Parrino's (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport) bloop single to left over a drawn-in infield.Â
Connors scored the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice from MAAC Player of the Year Michael Affronti (Dix Hills, N.Y./Commack). Affronti two-hopped a ball to the middle of the infield, but raced across the first base back just ahead of the relay throw to allow Connors' run to count.
Woods struck out two and issued one intentional walk for his team-high 11th save of the season. A.J. Lindsey (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) pitched one and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for his fourth win of the season. Lindsey (4-1) struck out one and allowed one hit. Falasca pitched six innings - the final five were scoreless - and allowed just three hits over the final five.
