By Mel Barracato Staff writer
Susquehanna’s baseball team swept Scranton this past weekend in the series, taking place on March 25 with a double-header in Maryland and another game on March 26 hosted by Juniata.
The River Hawks only gave up four hits in game one and allowed no runs as they cruised to a 13-0 victory in the first game on March 25. In the second game the River Hawks were limited to four hits but scored four runs to win 4-2.
The River Hawk’s needed extra innings to win on March 26. Sophomore designated hitter Cameron Ott hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to bring home the winning run to give Susquehanna a 4-3 victory.
In the first game on March 25, the River Hawks opened up strong scoring five runs each in the first two innings.
The River Hawks also finished the game with 17 hits.
Junior shortstop Cole Luzins was 4-for-4 with two runs and two runs batted in, while junior catcher Zach Leone was 3-for-3 with a double and a homerun to account for two runs and three RBIs.
Senior rightfielder Taylor Luckenbill was 3-for-4 with three runs and two doubles to lead the offense.
Luckenbill also received the Landmark Conference player of the week after he led Susquehanna’s offense that week with a .429 batting average, five runs and two RBIs.
Ott added a triple and senior third baseman Cory Fallon and freshman leftfielder Justin Miller each had home runs for Susquehanna.
“The first game was a team effort. Everybody hit the ball,” Head Coach Denny Bowers said.
Freshman pitcher Bobby Grigas earned his third win with the complete-game shutout victory as he struck out five and only gave up four hits.
“[Grigas] has been our most consistent pitcher,” Coach Bowers said. “He shut them down in the first inning. He is arguably our best pitcher.”
Grigas also took home Landmark Conference pitcher of the week with his performance in game one.
The second game was a bit closer as Scranton tied the game at two runs in the second inning, but the River Hawks bounced back with two more runs in the bottom of the second and kept that lead for the remainder of the game.
Luckenbill and senior first baseman Dylan Jenkins accounted for the first two runs. After the two-run homerun in the top of the second, Ott and Luckenbill both scored back-to-back runs to increase the lead by two.
“We started another freshman pitcher Sean Rodriguez and he kept us in the ball game only giving up two runs,” Bowers said.
The third game was the tightest matchup of the week, as the River Hawks had to go into extra innings to beat Scraton for the third time.
Scranton managed to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning, but Fallon added another run on an error by Scranton to narrow the score to 3-2.
The game was tied up however in the the seventh inning when Jenkins came home after a sacrifice fly by Fallon.
The River Hawks scored a run in the bottom of the tenth inning on an Ott sacrifice fly to bring home the third win of the weekend for Susquehanna.
The River Hawks could not keep their winning streak going however, falling to Keystone 6-3 on March 30.
Keystone wasted no time getting on the board as it scored three runs in the top of the first inning. Junior rightfielder Anthony Ferrezza scored first for the Giants followed by senior third baseman Bill Nelson and senior leftfielder Brendan Long.
Susquehanna responded quickly however in the bottom of the first with two runs of its own on a two-run double from Fallon.
The Giants continued to add to their lead in the top of the third on an RBI single from junior centerfielder Eric Drzewiecki and freshman catcher Ryan Callahan drove in a run after reaching base on a walk to extend the lead to 5-2.
Each team scored one more run in the game with Susquehanna scoring in the fifth and Keystone in the sixth.
With the loss, Susquehanna fell to 9-9 on the season and Keystone improved to 9-6.
The River Hawks are back in action on Saturday, April 1 when they travel to Catholic for a doubleheader.
