By Mike Henken, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna baseball team swept a three-game series over the defending Landmark Conference champion Catholic this past weekend in Washington, D.C.
“It was very important winning the series on the road against the reigning conference champs,” senior outfielder Nick Berger said. “Getting the sweep was just an added bonus giving us momentum into this upcoming weekend against the conference leader in Moravian.”
In game one on Saturday, March 23, the River Hawks topped the Cardinals 5–4 in a 12-inning thriller.
Early on, the contest proved to be a pitcher’s duel as both starters came out strong, and the game remained tied at zero heading into the fourth inning.
In the fourth inning however, Susquehanna finally got on the board, as junior infielder Alex Burman scored on a passed ball. Sophomore catcher Peter Yarem then scored on an RBI double from sophomore outfielder Steve Lorenz to give the River Hawks a 2–0 lead.
As the game continued on, freshman pitcher Ryan Monroy continued to dominate in seven-shutout innings. In addition, the River Hawks added one more run in the seventh to extend their lead to 3–0 heading into the eighth.
The Cardinals however would make things interesting in the eighth, as the defending conference champs scored four runs to take a 4–3 lead. The River Hawks quickly responded though, as junior outfielder Chris Corrado scored in the top of the ninth on a single from Burman to tie the score at four.
Strong pitching from sophomore Will Carey and junior Bobby Grigas kept the game tied before
Lorenz connected on a homerun in the 12th inning to give the River Hawks a 5–4 lead. Grigas was then able to close it out the bottom half of that inning to secure the win for Susquehanna.
In game one of Sunday’s doubleheader between the two teams, the River Hawks once again came out on top with a 5–3 win.
The game started off a bit slow, as neither team scored until the third inning. Yarem drove in junior outfielder Justin Miller with an RBI single while Berger also crossed home plate.
An inning later, Catholic finally got on the board with an unearned run off of junior starting pitcher Tyson Thrush.
Susquehanna quickly responded though, as junior infielder Anthony Dombrowski scored in the
following inning to give the River Hawks a two-run lead.
Catholic tied the score in the fifth inning with two runs and to tie the game once again. In the ninth inning however, Susquehanna broke the tie with RBI singles from Berger and Lorenz.
Grigas then came into to close the game and picked up
another save to secure the victory for the River Hawks.
Unlike the first two games of the series, the third and final game proved to be a one-sided affair as Susquehanna dominated the Cardinals in a 17–2 win.
“I think the third game was different because we had already won the series from the first two games and they we’re out of it,” Miller said. “There’s nothing we wanted more than to sweep the No. 1 seed at their place.”
To begin the game, the River Hawks scored a run in the first inning, three in the second and five in the third to quickly establish a 9–0 lead. This early run was highlighted by an RBI single from Yarem, a homerun from Lorenz and a three-run double from Miller.
As the game went on, Catholic scored twice in the fourth inning, but the Cardinals couldn’t mount much of an attack outside of that and Susquehanna scored eight more runs before the game ended.
Corrado ended up scoring four times and drove in a run himself. In addition, Susquehanna had strong performances from multiple pitchers as Carey, Grigas and junior Brendan Damiano did not surrender any runs in their outings.
Moving forward, the River Hawks will return to conference play at Moravian at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 30
“If we continue to pitch well and play solid defense, I believe that our offense can give us a chance to be successful,” Berger said.
Miller added on to that idea later on as well.
“To continue being successful, we have to keep playing for each other and make sure we don’t get conceited,” he said.