ELMIRA, N.Y. -- With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Elmira College baseball team has its eyes set on the 2017 Empire 8 Conference Championships, hosted by St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. The first round of action begins on Thursday, May 11, when the third-seeded Soaring Eagles take on the second-seeded Bombers of Ithaca College at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $5.00 for general admission, $3.00 for senior citizens and students with a college ID, and children under two are free.

The Soaring Eagles secured the third seed in the postseason tournament with a 9-9 record against league opponents. Not only are those nine E8 victories a new record for the young EC baseball program, but they're more than the team accumulated in its first two seasons combined, illustrating just how far the Purple and Gold have come in three short years.

Elmira opened the E8 slate by sweeping Utica College in a doubleheader at Dunn Field on March 25, a pair of crucial victories that would put the Soaring Eagles in position lock down a tournament berth in the conference finale. In April, Elmira picked up its first-ever conference wins over both Ithaca College and Stevens Institute of Technology. On April 14 and 15 in Hoboken, New Jersey, the Soaring Eagles got the better of their feathered foes twice in the three-game set, opening the series with a 7-1 win and ending it with a 7-5 come-from-behind victory. Those two triumphs gave Elmira the tiebreaker over the fourth-seeded Ducks, who also finished the regular season with a 9-9 conference record.

Nevertheless, it all came down to the conference finale, a meeting with the Utica Pioneers on April 7 at Houghton College's turf field due to rainy weather. It was a "win and you're in" situation; EC needed to defeat Utica to clinch the third seed, but a loss would have eliminated the Soaring Eagles completely. Although the Pioneers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, the Elmira offense plated two runs in the fifth and four in the seventh, while Andy Reed '19 shut down UC over the final four innings to seal the 6-3 win and a postseason appearance.

LAST TIME OUT: The Soaring Eagles wrapped up the regular season with a non-conference doubleheader against Penn State Behrend at historic Dunn Field on Tuesday. The Lions, who are headed to the upcoming Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament as the second seed, proved to be too much for the Purple and Gold, as they completed the sweep with 13-8 and 7-3 wins. In the opener, EC clawed back from a 7-0 deficit by posting a six-spot in the fifth inning. The offensive outburst was fueled by RBI doubles from Nate Hanner '18 and Dylan Bellinger'17, and a two-run, two-out base hit from Tommy Fogarty '20. Alas, the Lions responded by plating five runs of their own in the next inning, widening the gap back to 12-6. A similar situation happened in the nightcap, as an RBI single from Hayden Rothenberg '17 trimmed PSB's lead down to 4-3 in the sixth. However, the Lions put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh with a three-run homer off the bat of Scott Sada. Bellinger and Fogarty led the Soaring Eagles with three hits apiece, with the former hitting a homer in the late game and the latter collecting a team-high three RBIs.

SENIOR SLUGGER: On the day the EC baseball team recognized the Class of 2017, Bellinger broke his own single-season home run record. The 6-foot-3-inch, 225-pound first baseman cleared Dunn Field's 20-foot wall in straightaway center field during the second game of Tuesday's twin bill against Penn State Behrend. It marked the sixth time the local product of nearby Thomas A. Edison High School had gone yard in his senior campaign, one more than his previous career high which he set just a year ago. In Elmira's first three seasons of varsity baseball, Bellinger has been responsible for 13 of the team's 23 homers, one of the many offensive records he'll graduate with this summer.

BAWIEC ON BASE: Over his first three collegiate seasons, utility player Conor Bawiec '18 has shown quite the knack for consistently getting on base. It should come as no surprise that the Lebanon, Pennsylvania, native is EC's career leader in on-base percentage, considering that he reached safely in a whopping 38 straight games between his freshman and sophomore seasons, and that Bawiec's currently riding another impressive 26-game streak. In fact, the junior has reached safely in 31 of Elmira's 33 games this season, making his left-handed bat the perfect candidate to occupy the second spot in the lineup.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Elmira has one prior E8 Tournament game under its belt. In 2015 – the first year the conference used a postseason tournament to decide its annual champion – the Soaring Eagles battled SUNY Canton in a play-in game. Although EC scored twice in the bottom of the first to climb ahead 2-1, the Roos went on to earn an 11-4 win.

THE FIELD: The Empire 8 Conference boasts some of the New York Region's best competition, and this year's tournament is exception. Joining the Soaring Eagles in Rochester, New York, this weekend will be the host Cardinals of nationally-ranked St. John Fisher, the reigning tournament champion Ithaca College, and Stevens Institute of Technology, which has established itself as a perennial region power over the past five seasons.

No. 1 St. John Fisher College (28-8, 15-1 Empire 8)
The Cardinals were the preseason favorite to capture the E8's regular-season crown, and for a good reason. Last year, St. John Fisher's baseball program put its name on the map with its first-ever NCAA Division III College World Series appearance, and the Cards spent the majority of the 2017 season in the national rankings. In the latest edition of the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, Fisher moved up one spot to No. 14, this after concluding the regular season with a 15-1 mark inside the Empire 8. For the second year in a row, SJFC's Dugan Yard will serve as the site of the conference tournament, a place where the Cardinals won 12 of 14 games this season. Anchoring the lineup is junior Scott Eisenmenger, one of the most feared power hitters in the nation. The 6-foot-4-inch, 235-pound first baseman ranks seventh in the country in RBIs with 53 and is tied for the league lead with nine home runs. The tournament's top-seeded team has also received significant contributions from a handful of freshmen, including ace Anthony Brophy. The first-year arm has made a strong case for the E8 Rookie of the Year Award, as he leads the circuit with an unblemished 8-0 record and a paltry 1.26 ERA.

No. 2 Ithaca College (25-11, 12-4 Empire 8)
Although it was St. John Fisher that made a lengthy run in last year's NCAA Tournament, it was the Bombers who claimed the 2016 conference title. And while D3baseball.com hasn't listed Ithaca in the rankings, the online publication has identified it as a potential candidate for an at-large berth if the Bombers don't pick up the championship and the ensuing auto bid this weekend. IC has been consistent both at the plate and on the mound, ranking third in the league in batting average (.314) and ERA (4.86). Ithaca's lineup is solid from top to bottom, as seven of its everyday players possess averages above .300. That includes Ryan Henchey, who has started all 36 games and paces the team in both hits (52) and RBIs (41). The senior catcher has posted at least one hit in all but four games this season, one of which came on the road against Elmira. Toeing the rubber in the first round against the Soaring Eagles may be sophomore Jake Binder, a transfer from Division I Fairfield University. The 6-foot-3-inch righty finished second in the Empire 8 with seven victories, going 7-1 with a 3.21 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 61.2 innings.

No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology (18-21-1, 9-9 Empire 8)
With Utica losing to both Elmira and SUNY Canton on May 7, the Ducks were awarded the final spot in this year's Empire 8 Tournament, finishing with one more conference win than the Pioneers. Stevens needed 13 innings to capture its ninth league victory, as the Ducks handed the top-seeded Cardinals their only conference loss of the year by a score of 4-3 in extras back on April 29 thanks to a walk-off walk. Although the Ducks are last in the E8 with a .267 batting average, they sit in a two-way with St. John Fisher for the lead in homers (26) and pace the field in stolen bases by a wide margin with 80 on the year. Seniors Michael Mule' and Zelph Walters were the only two players to start all 40 games during the regular season. Mule' is batting .346 with a team-leading 54 hits, and Walters posted team highs with 31 RBIs and six dingers. Lefty Danny Poidomani has evolved from his role as a freshman reliever into a stud sophomore starter; he's fanned a conference-high 87 batters and compiled a 2.91 ERA in 74.1 innings of work.

TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE: For more information on the 2017 Empire 8 Tournament, including the full schedule, directions to the St. John Fisher campus, and links for live stats, please visit the tournament homepage.