By Andrew Snyder, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna baseball team (2-6) traveled to Port Charlotte, Fla. during spring break to participate in the Snowbird Baseball Classic and begin its Landmark Conference schedule against Scranton University. The team played a total of eight games while in Florida and won two.
The River Hawks’ first matchup was against the Bears of Bridgewater State. The Bears drew first blood in the top of the first inning, scoring a run from a single that scored a runner on second base. The Bears lead was short lived, as Susquehanna tallied two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Junior infielder Craig Roumes walked in the first at-bat of the inning and later advanced to third on a single from senior outfielder Nick Berger. Berger then scored on an errant pitch from the Bridgewater pitcher.
After adding a run in the third and the fourth inning, the River Hawks entered the top of the fifth leading 4-1. The Bears were able to knot the game in the fifth, however, thanks to three hits, a walk, and an error.
After two scoreless innings, the Bears were able to break the tie in the top of the eighth inning when Patrick Cashin scored on an error. The Bears took their 5-4 lead into the bottom of the inning, where Susquehanna tied the game on a sacrifice fly from junior infielder Anothony Dombrowski. The River Hawks then notched two back-to-back doubles from Roumes and Berger to regain the lead heading into a crucial ninth inning.
Junior pitcher Bobby Grigas got the nod to start the inning, but after surrendering a run, the River Hawks turned to freshman Dillan Weikel to get them out of a bases-loaded jam. Weikel hit the first batter he faced, driving home a run and giving the Bears a 7-6 lead, but Weikel forced a pop up on the next batter to end the inning.
In a tense bottom-of-the-ninth, freshman infielder Adam Schreck singled, and junior outfielder Justin Miller and sophomore infielder Luke Tuttle both walked to load the bases. Then, it was sophomore outfielder Steve Lorenz’s turn to play hero, as he hit a walkoff single to clinch an 8-7 win for the River Hawks.
Sophomore pitcher Will Carey threw three shutout innings to relieve freshman starter Ryan Monroy, who pitched five innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out four.
Susquehanna then took on La Roche College on backto-back days. In game one Susquehanna jumped out to a 4–0 lead, but were overcome by an onslaught of 14 runs from the Red Hawks. Susquehanna lost 14-7.
The second game against the Red Hawks also resulted in a loss. La Roche scored eight runs in the final two innings to defeat the River Hawks 11-4.. Following losses to Marrieta College and Arcadia University, the River Hawks were defeated 11–8 by nationally-ranked Swarthmore College.
A second-inning single from senior infielder Ben Burman set up RBIs for Roumes and Justin Miller to make the score 3–0. Swarthmore responded with six unanswered runs. A fifth-inning single from Yarem got the River Hawks back in the runs column. The score stood at 7–4 heading into the sixth. Susquehanna battled in the late innings, but were unable to dominant the Swarthmore offense and lost 11–8.
After the snowbird classic, Susquehanna began their Landmark Conference schedule and defeated the University of Scranton 17–4 in the second game of the day. The Burman brothers led the way, with Ben hitting a two-run homer and Alex going 3–4 with 2 RBIs. Yarem and sophomore infielder Lance Welsh were hot all day, combining for six hits and seven RBIs. Monroy allowed only two earned runs in his seven innings pitched.
The River Hawks will travel to Catholic for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 23.
