By Alex Kurtz, Sports Editor
The Susquehanna baseball team swept the three-game series against conference-foe Juniata over the weekend, thanks to strong pitching from freshman Bobby Grigas.
In game one on Friday, Grigas continued his strong freshman campaign as he set the school record for strikeouts in a game with 15 to propel the River Hawks over Juniata 3-2.
Due to his strong performance, Grigas was also named the Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Week.
His record is currently 6-1 on the season with 57 strikeouts, bringing his average to nearly 10 strikeouts per game.
Grigas started his dominant performance with a bang in game one, as he struck out eight of the first nine batters that he faced.
In the fourth inning, Susquehanna added some unconventional run support for their ace with a pair of unearned runs.
Junior infielder Tom Giaimo started the inning off with a single and after a single by senior outfielder Taylor Luckenbill put runners on the corners, Giaimo was brought home on a balk for the first run of the inning. The second run of the inning came on an errant throw home that allowed Luckenbill to score.
The Golden Eagles would respond in the seventh with a leadoff home run and in the eighth with an RBI single to tie the game 2-2.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Grigas in the top of the ninth, senior infielder Cory Fallon hit a walkoff-double to win the game 3-2.
Juniata started the scoring in the top of the first but that was all the scoring for the Golden Eagles on the day.
Fallon would hit the go- ahead run in the bottom of the first with a bases-loaded two RBI-single.
The River Hawks would add to their lead in the bottom of the third with a solo home run from junior infielder Cole Luzins, and would add the final run in the bottom of the sixth while coming home during a Juniata double play to make the final score 4-1.
Finally, in game three, freshman pitcher Tyson Thrush completed the pitching trifecta with a quality start going 6 and 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
Luckenbill lead off the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a solo-home run and the River Hawks would score the final three runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With the three wins, Susquehanna improved to 17- 12 and 8-3 in the Landmark Conference.
On Tuesday, the River Hawks also played another game on the road against Messiah College, where they took home a win in an 14-12 offensive battle.
Susquehanna jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a steal home in the first inning from Fallon and a sacrifice-fly RBI from Luzins.
In the third inning, a double from freshman outfielder Chris Corrado scored freshman outfielder Justin Miller to bring the score to 3-0 River Hawks.
Messiah would respond with one run of their own to narrow the score to 3-1.
Senior infielder Dylan Jen- kins and junior catcher Zach Leone hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the third inning, scoring three runs for Susquehanna.
Messiah would respond, however, with a five-run bot- tom half of the inning to tie the game 6-6.
Susquehanna would keep the bats alive though in the next two innings, as they scored eight runs in the next two innings.
Fallon had two RBIs, one each inning, Corrado had two runs, and sophomore infielder Ben Burman doubled home the 14th and final run of the game for the River Hawks.
Messiah would claw their way back into the game slowly, but ultimately it would not be enough as they fell two runs short.
Freshman pitcher Sean Rodriguez picked up his fourth win of the season after coming in for relief.
Senior pitcher George Zirkel picked up the save for Susquehanna.
The River Hawks improved to 18-12. They will return home on April 22 for a three- game series against Elizabethtown. Currently, Susquehanna sits in first place in the Landmark Conference at 9-3, thanks to a five game winning streak. The River Hawks will win the conference if they win out in the regular season.
