Baseball places seven on 2025 All-Liberty League Team

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Seven members of the RIT baseball team were named to the 2025 Liberty League Baseball All-Conference team, announced Tuesday.

Graduate student pitcher John Arnold and junior shortstop Randy Dodig were named to the first team, junior outfielder Jackson Rusiecki made the second team, as senior pitcher Ryan Merkov, junior pitcher Luc Rising, second baseman Jarin Moses, and junior third baseman Charlie Slaymaker earned spots on the third team.

Arnold held opposing teams to a .229 batting average, the second-lowest average in the Liberty League this season. The graduate student also ranked second in the conference in both innings pitched (66.1) and strikeouts (67). Arnold recorded a season-best 10 strikeouts against St. Lawrence on Mar. 28 and finished the year with a 4-3 record.

Dodig led RIT and finished ninth in the Liberty League with 39 runs, which is also a career high. Dodig hit .374 through 35 games for the Tigers and produced hitting streaks of 12 and 11 games. Defensively, the shortstop ranked 10th in the league with 88 assists and a .903 fielding percentage.  

Rusiecki finished tied for second in the Liberty League with 12 doubles and was ranked tied for fifth in the conference with a .503 on base percentage. The outfielder completed the season with a .353 batting average and a .974 OPS percentage while scoring 29 runs, which was the fourth most for RIT.

Rising went 4-1 in nine starts this season, recording a 3.28 ERA that ranked second-lowest in the conference. Rising notched career-best 10 strikeouts in a win against St. John Fisher on Mar. 15

Merkov worked a career-high 39.2 innings over 13 games, recording a conference low 2.72 ERA. The reliever posted a record of 4-0 and earned two saves for the Tigers.

Moses led RIT and ranked second in the Liberty League with 10 home runs, which was also a career-high. The second baseman ended the year ranked fourth in the conference with 43 RBIs. Defensively, Moses led the team with 89 assists and was a part of a team-high 17 double plays.

Slaymaker posted a .324 batting average, scoring 31 runs while driving in 33 runs off of 46 hits. The third baseman ended the season with a .973 fielding percentage with 36 putouts, 71 assists, and just three errors.

RIT finished the season with a 22-14 record and fell to RPI in the best-of-three Liberty League Crossover Series.