Photos By Nicholas Campbell
By Jacob Miller
The Susquehanna Baseball team claimed a series win with a sweep over Catholic University on Sunday.
The River Hawks took game one of the double header 4-1, then used that momentum for game two where Susquehanna scored 15 runs to win the nightcap 15-9. The weekend series included a single game played the day before on Saturday, to which the River Hawks defeated the Cardinals 4-3, completing the sweep.
In the first game, Sophomore pitcher Josh Domaracki got the start, striking out seven hitters in a dominant performance. Domaracki started the game with five straight strikes, striking out the first hitter 0-3 and having the second hitter down 0-2.
Thanks to Domaracki’s play on the mound, the Cardinals did not score until the top of the 8th inning in game one.
“You know Josh has struggled his last two starts, but we all always have full confidence in him. We know what he’s capable of and he showed us today,” Junior Robert Kramer said. “He had command for all his pitches and he showed how dominant he can be with everything going right.”
The stellar play defensively allowed the Susquehanna bats to get going, which is exactly what they did. In the 3rd inning, senior Dylan Heyduk hit a solo blast to right field to give the hawks a 1-0 lead.
Just an inning later, junior Paul Daly hit a two-run homerun to stretch the lead to 3-0 for the Riverhawks. Junior Michael Gagliardi got in on the action with an RBI double that scored sophomore Lucas Zachesky.
With Catholic earning their lone run in the top of the eight, sophomore Austin Ozarowski came in for closing duties and was able to seal the deal for Susquehanna in the top of the ninth.
Domaracki finished the game pitching seven total innings while only allowing three hits and a single walk. Domaracki also allowed no runs while striking out seven batters to wrap up his impressive day. Gagliardi led the way in the batter’s box in game one with two hits in four at bats, including an RBI.
Game two of the doubleheaders saw junior Evan Applegate starting on the mound for SU. The scoring, unlike in game one, started fast as the Cardinals scored in the first inning, going up 1-0.
However, Susquehanna didn’t let that bother them as in the bottom of the first, the Riverhawks would take the lead scoring four runs with errors from the Catholic defense and a sac-fly as the method of runs.
The second inning continued the scoring trend, as the Cardinals scored a run and stringed up some more hits, setting them up with bases loaded and only one out. Applegate and the River Hawks managed to escape the jam and only let up one run in the process that cut the lead 4-3.
Susquehanna then answered with two hits from junior CJ Orrego and Hower, who eventually both scored on ground outs and sac-fly’s to improve the hawks lead to 5-3. Gagliardi then topped it off with a solo homerun to finish the second inning, giving the River Hawks a 7-3 lead.
Both teams seemingly cooled down for the next two innings after the hot start, until the fifth inning where both teams scored 11 total runs. Starting at the top with the Cardinals, who were able to come all the way back from down 7-3 to tie the ball game to 7-7, scoring four runs.
The resilient Riverhawks then responded in a big way scoring seven runs to increase their lead to 14-7 in the fifth. The scoring splurge only featured two hits from SU, as the River Hawks used smart base running and took advantage on errors and HBP’s from Catholic to score their seven runs.
Both teams cooled off again, with sophomore Nate Fronheiser and junior Cole Lilore taking over pitching duties and not allowing a single run from the sixth to the ninth.
The River Hawks gained an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to stretch their lead to 15-7. In the top of the ninth, Catholic would get a glimpse of hope with a two-run homerun but was quickly shut down with a line out to second to seal the River Hawks game two win.
Applegate in his four innings allowed six hits and five runs while also striking out six Cardinal batters. “Evan kept us in the game all day and competed every pitch. He records his career high strikeout game as well. Always helps when the offense scores you seven runs early,” Kramer said.
Offensively, the River Hawks as a team recorded 10 hits with 13 RBIs. Orrego, Gagliardi and sophomore Jaden Buechler recorded two hits for the River Hawks, with Gagliardi recording a team high four RBIs.
“The offense today was great. Three home runs as a team, a lot of barrels and a lot of hard-hit outs. The pitching also kept the offense hot by limiting the big innings,” Kramer said.
The Riverhawks will carry their newfound momentum when they travel to Huntingdon, PA to take on Juniata College on Tuesday, March 31 at 3 p.m.