Box
Score
MADISON, N.J. – It came down to the very final inning to
determine a winner in Sunday's Landmark Conference baseball
game between Susquehanna and Drew and unfortunately for the
Crusaders, a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth resulted in a
5-4 loss.
The game was tied 4-4 heading into the final inning of regulation
but two SU pitchers could not keep the game-winning run from
scoring, resulting in the Crusaders' (13-18, 2-10)
third-straight one-run loss to the Rangers this weekend.
Susquehanna did out-hit Drew (16-13, 7-5) on the afternoon with 12
hits to the Rangers' eight. Kyle
Semmel led the way with a three-hit, two-RBI
performance, while Ethan Rieker (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim
Twp.) and Mike Rucereto (Washingtown Twp.,
N.J./Bergen Catholic) collected two hits apiece.
Matt Boyd (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill) got the
starting nod for SU and went 5.1 innings with just one of the four
runs charged against him earned as the four Crusader errors proved
costly. Matt Lottes (Muttontown, N.Y./Long Island
Lutheran) tossed 2.1 innings of one-hit, no-run ball
before Drew broke through against Nick Torkildsen (Milford,
Pa./Delaware Valley HS) and Matt Smith (Blue Ridge
Summit, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) for the game-winning run in
the ninth.
SU managed two runs in the second thanks to Semmel's RBI
triple and Rucereto's single up the middle that plated Semmel
for a 2-0 ballgame.
That remained the score until Drew plated runs in both the bottom
of the fourth and fifth innings and pushed two more runs across in
the sixth to take the 4-2 lead.
Susquehanna responded in the eighth by tying the game on
Greg Uhlak's (Ocean Gatge, N.J./Central
Regional) pinch-hit double that scored Rieker. Semmel
followed in the very next at-bat with a RBI to right field that
scored Uhlak.
SU left a runner stranded in the ninth before Michael Bodden led
off the bottom half of the inning with a triple down the right
field line. After two intentional walks, Pete Tuchol singled up the
middle, sending home the game-winning run.
The Crusaders return to action on April 15 with a 3:30 p.m. game at
Messiah.
