ROCHESTER, N.Y. - On Tuesday morning, the Golden Flyers hosted Elmira for the first round of the Empire 8 tournament, defeating the Soaring Eagles by one run 5-4. With the win, Nazareth earned its 21st win of the season to break the program record for overall wins.

Nazareth's overall record improves to 21-13 overall and 14-8 in conference play, while Elmira closes its season with an overall record of 12-24-1 and a conference record of 9-13.

The Golden Flyers got on the board early in the game with a run in the bottom of the first after holding the Soaring Eagles scoreless in the top of the inning. With two outs, Kaijah Alexander doubled to the right center wall, and was then advanced to third on an infield single by Sarah Ferruzza. With two runners on, Haleigh Suitor put a ball in play, causing an error in the field and allowing Alexander to score.

In the second, the Golden Flyers were able to hold Elmira scoreless in the top of the inning on four batters again. In the bottom, Caitlyn Knapp led off the inning with a homer to score Nazareth's only run of the inning.

After a silent third inning on the scoreboard, Elmira tied the game up with two runs in the top of the fourth.

Still tied, Nazareth went on a rally in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs. Ashley Bell led off the inning with a walk. Alexander then had a single to center field to go 3-for-3 from the plate and advance Bell to third. Ferruzza followed with a sac fly to center field to score Bell and bring the Golden Flyers' lead back at 3-2. With two outs and Alexander on base, Madison Hicks knocked one over the fence to bring around the other two runs of the inning.

Despite Elmira slowly chipping away at the 5-2 lead with one run in the top of the sixth and one in the top of the seventh, the Golden Flyers managed to hold on to the lead and the game concluded at a score of 5-4 in favor of Nazareth to push the Golden Flyers through to the next round of playoffs.

Avery Zembek was in the circle for the full seven innings, tallying eight strikeouts and being charged with four earned runs on 32 batters faced.

The Golden Flyers will head to St. John Fisher on May 8th at 11:30 a.m. to take on Alfred University in the next round of the Empire 8 tournament.

Information about the tournament can be found here.
Information about tickets, including purchases can be found here.