Niagara club baseball wins first-ever district title
The Niagara University club baseball team won its first-ever District IV North League title, going 13-2 between fall and spring. The Purple Eagles advance to the District IV playoffs this weekend starting Friday at UB. The winner of the double-elimination will advance to the Club Baseball World Series in Kansas.
Niagara is the number 2 seed and will play Slippery Rock at 1 p.m. Friday. Top seeded Akron, the number seven team in the country, opens things against Carnagie Mellon at 10 a.m. the same day.
The Purple Eagles won the conference the final weekend when they took two of three games against Ithaca at Sal Maglie Stadium. Regan O’Shea (Rochester) tossed a perfect game, while Zach Monell (Starpoint) had a complete-game effort in the other win. O’Shea picked up his fifth win of the season and Monell his fourth as the Purple Eagles swept UB to close the season.
Offensively, sophomore Bailey Cadwallader (Niagara-Wheatfield) was one stand out, boasting a .324 average. senior Todd Gardner (Eden) led the team in most categories, including doubles (six), triples (two) and RBIs (14) while hitting .341.
The club baseball team is a member of the National Collegiate Club Baseball Association. For more information on this organization you can review the web site at http://www.clubbaseball.org