Box Score - Semifinal
Box Score - Championship

Purchase, NY (May 12, 2013) – Purchase baseball celebrated Mother's Day with one more great afternoon on the diamond in a spring season that closed Sunday with a program-record 23 wins.

The team's best season to date reached a zenith earlier this week when the Panthers topped Richard Stockton to reach the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) DIII Metro Tournament semifinals. The quarterfinal victory punched their ticket to this weekend's ECAC semifinal and championship round, which would be hosted by No. 6 Purchase. However, poor weather in the forecast for Saturday moved the games to Sunday – a triple-header, starting at 9 a.m. – that would need to be played with NCAA tournament selection Monday looming.

Top-seeded St. John Fisher would win the semifinal opener, topping Rutgers-Camden 6-0 in the early morning start. The noon matchup pitted USMMA vs. Purchase, which Purchase won 4-2.

St. John Fisher would capture the championship finale, 17-4, and will now have an outside shot at the at-large bid for the tournament.  

In the second semifinal, Purchase would trail 2-0 after heading into the bottom of the second, but scratched across a run before tying the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth. The Panthers would add two run in the sixth and hold the lead the rest of the way to reach the championship.

Purchase starter Matt Paz* (SR/Bridgeport, CT) was terrific. Making his final Panther start, Paz went 7 1/3 innings, allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out three. He walked only two and navigated around six hits for the win. Skyline Pitcher of the Year Miller Lulow* (SR/New York, NY) finished off the victory with an 1 2/3 inning of scoreless relief.

Offensively, shortstop Josh Spielberg (SR/Oceanside, NY) was the star. He went 3 for 3 with all four RBI, collecting three of the team's 10 hits. Purchase slugger Ronald Echavarria (SR/Bronx, NY) added two hits and two runs.

In the championship, Lulow would once again take the ball, going from reliever to starter in roughly an hour's time. Lulow and the Panthers started strong in the first, but St. John Fisher broke through in the second with Lulow 's back tightening up a bit. St. John Fisher scored six runs in the second and never looked back as Purchase head coach Bill Guerrero played his entire roster the rest of the way.

St. John Fisher was led by ECAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player Sean Osterman, who collected three hits, including the big shot of the afternoon – a grand slam in the six-run second inning. He accounted for four of the team's RBI. Mike Roman and Bryant Moore would added three RBI apiece.

Spielberg was sharp in the championship for Purchase. He went 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI. John Duffy (JR/Staten Island, NY) and Robert Robles (SO/Bronx, NY) also collected two hits apiece, with Robles knocking in two runs of his own.

Purchase's season closed with a 23-19 overall record, which includes a top four finish in both Skylines and ECACs in 2013.