UTICA, NY - The Pioneers started their week off in style with a huge Monday matchup against SUNY Poly, one that featured some big playoff implications related to the impending Empire 8 Baseball Tournament. In one of the biggest games of the year so far, Kooper Knabe (Cortland, NY/Cortland) proved to be a big game player as the Pioneer pitcher threw six spectacular innings to lead his team to an 11-5 victory.
 
Knabe rolled for the majority of the matchup, shutting out the Wildcats over the first five frames of the outing. He added three strikeouts in another winning effort, his sixth of the season to run his record to an amazing 6-0. The Wildcats managed to strike a few times in the sixth inning, breaking up the shutout effort. However, Knabe gave way for the powerful pitching duo of Connor Ford (Swedesboro, NJ/Kingsway Regional) and Peyton Newton (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport) who finished the job in emphatic fashion.
 
Ford came in to achieve two important outs, allowing just a single hit in his frame of work. He set up the closer Newton well while also throwing efficiently, guaranteeing that the Pioneers will have his services for a plethora of important contests that they'll play this week.
 
Then came Newton to close out the crucial clash. The Weedsport native went the final 2.1 innings, striking out two and allowing just a single hit to snuff out the Wildcats final few chances. Newton fell a few outs short of the save but had yet another superb outing to start the week off with a big win.
 
In addition to the trifecta of strong outings on the mound, the Pioneer offense came alive for 11 runs in an explosive display, also racking up 10 hits in the game. The team spread the wealth, with four different Pioneers in the heart of the lineup each getting two hits, including Lance Berger (Lindenhurst, NY/Saint Anthony's), Mike Rockwell (Liverpool, NY/Cicero), Josh Duval (Utica, NY/Proctor), and Michael Flint (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy). Four players also achieved two RBIs each, as Duval, Flint, Jacob Scalise (Utica, NY/Whitesboro), and Justin Mazovec (Lake Grove, NY/Centereach) each plating two Pioneer runners.
 
Amazingly, the Pioneers went station to station throughout the entire game, scoring double digit runs despite not having an extra base hit during the action. They were also extremely patient in the proceedings, walking seven times total as a team. Rockwell was responsible for two such walks, also managing to score three runs in what was an extremely complete performance for the outstanding outfielder.
 
The Pioneers hopped out to an early 8-0 lead thanks to two big innings in the third and fifth. After the pair of four-run frames, Poly struck back to cut the deficit in half. Ford and Newton then combined to stall the comeback chance, with the Utica offense scoring once in all three of the final innings to hammer home the 11-5 victory.
 
The team improved to 16-13-1 with the win, also increasing their Empire 8 points total to 22. Thanks to their victory, the Pioneers clinched a spot in this year's Empire 8 Tournament and will once again compete for the team's top prize come next week. They will head to Hamilton tomorrow for the annual Jackie Robinson Game against the Continentals before greeting SUNY Cobleskill in another non-conference game on Wednesday. After that, they will battle Brockport and look to keep hold of their current rank at number four in the conference standings.