TROY, N.Y. – Several Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes finished among the national leaders in a number of statistical categories this spring, including Mike Cieszko (Earned Run Average) and Patrick Reardon (Walks) from baseball, James Manchester (Goals Against Average) from men’s lacrosse and Jen Bach (Home Runs Per Game) from softball. Those teams also ranked among the nation’s best statistically.
A junior righthander from Stevenson Ranch, Calif., Cieszko was tops in the country with a 1.07 earned run average in 14 appearances. Compiling a 5-2 record, he led the club in both wins and saves (2), while striking out 45 batters in 42.0 innings and also held opponents to a team-best .204 batting average. The William S. Hart High School graduate finished the season with complete games in all four of his starts, earning shutouts in three of those contests.
Reardon, a senior catcher who hails from Troy, N.Y., ended up 10th nationally in walks, reaching 37 times via base on balls. Second on the Engineers with a .385 batting average (52 for 135), he led the club in runs (43), hits, doubles (14), home runs (7), slugging percentage (.659) and on-base percentage (.517). A former standout at LaSalle Institute, he was second on the team with nine stolen bases in 11 attempts.
Manchester, a freshman goaltender out of Niskayuna, N.Y., was third in the country in goals against average, allowing just 6.09 goals per game. A starter in all 17 games, he went 14-3, helping lead the school to its third ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Niskayuna High School graduate was ninth in the nation with a .629 save percentage.
A junior pitcher/first baseman from Lansdale, Pa., Bach had a record-breaking year for the Engineers in 2010. Finishing seventh in the country in home runs per game (0.32), she set both the single season (12) and career (31) home run records at Rensselaer. A former standout at Gwynedd Mercy Academy, she led the club with a .431 batting average (56 for 130). Also a pitcher, she went 9-9 with a 4.12 ERA, while appearing a school-record 30 games and working a team-best 134.1 innings.
Others individuals that excelled statistically were baseball seniors Camden Mamigonian (Dover, NH/Dover) and John Dreimiller (Ticonderoga, NY/Ticonderoga) were 14th and 20th nationally in sacrifice flies (7) and strikeouts per nine innings pitched (10.8), respectively. Junior softball player Alysa Rochminski (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) was fourth in sac flies (4).
The men’s lacrosse team, which finished its season with a 14-3 record, including a perfect 5-0 mark in the Liberty League, ranked fourth in the country in scoring defense (6.18 goals per game) and 10th in winning percentage (.824). The baseball team (24-16) was 10th in earned run average (3.75).
There are 161 men’s lacrosse teams, 359 baseball teams and 395 softball teams in NCAA Division III athletics.