TROY, N.Y. – RPI hit three home runs and used three pitchers to shut out the Skidmore College baseball team for the first time in 2024, 8-0, in the first of three games over the weekend between the teams.

• RPI is 15-8 and 8-2 in the Liberty League East. Skidmore is 15-11 and 5-2. The Engineers can clinch the division with a win tomorrow.
• No. 9 hitter Charlie Lapp got it going with a two-run homer with one out in the home half of the second.
• It remained quiet until the bottom of the sixth, when Joey Saia connected for the host's second two-run bomb of the afternoon.
• Julian Fong-McAdams had a no-hitter through six until Zachary Leiderman led off the seventh with a single through the left side. Sam Kornet worked one of his three walks of the game to show the makings of a rally. Cameron Heur relieved Fong-McAdams, who was up over 100 pitches, and got out of the inning with the shutout still intact. Fong-McAdams struck out 11 hitters and walked five.  
• RPI tacked on four more in the eighth, including a Martin Marintchev solo homer, to make it 8-0.
• Kornet was one of three Thoroughbreds to reach base multiple times. Leiderman was 2-for-4 with Skidmore's only extra-base hit: a leadoff double in the ninth.
• Nate Vandersea walked twice.
• The two homers were the only damage done against Skidmore starter Ameer Hasan. He surrendered seven hits over six innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

NEXT UP: The series shifts to Saratoga Springs where the Thoroughbreds will host the Engineers in a doubleheader at the Castle Diamond beginning at 12 p.m. It will be Senior Day for Skidmore as the team plays its first game at home following nine straight on the road.