Buffalo State 3, Rochester 2
Ithaca, N.Y. -- Fourth-seeded Buffalo State (32-13) advanced to the championship round of the regional being held at Ithaca College, beating second-seeded Rochester (33-12) 3-2 in Saturday's final game. The Bengals will play top-seeded Cortland Sunday at noon, needing two wins over the Red Dragons to claim the regional title. Cortland needs one win to capture the championship.
Catcher Nicole Sabuda singled through a drawn-in infield to score the winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Right fielder Carly Lopez drew a leadoff walk and beat the throw to second on a sacrific bunt by center fielder Julie Joyce. After the runners were bunted to second and third, an intentional walk to third baseman Jolene Banach loaded the bases to set up Sabuda's winning hit.
The Yellow Jackets tied the game in the sixth on an unearned run. Second baseman Erin Clark, who led off the inning with a single, scored on a dropped fly ball by the Bengal outfielder.
Center fielder Katie McLean, who collected three of Rochester's six hits, tripled in the first and score on a sacrifice fly by Clark to put the Yellow Jackets up 1-0. Buffalo State scored its first two runs in the third with Joyce tripling in Lopez and coming around to score on an infield grounder by Sabuda.
Jenna Frieling earned the win in relief for the Bengals.