Box Score
FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Susquehanna baseball won their
sixth-straight game on Friday evening, defeating Arcadia 5-3 in a
12-inning thriller, the longest game for the team since 2007.
The Crusaders (6-3) scored one run in the opening inning before
surrendering three to the Knights (0-1) in the fourth. SU scored
once in the fifth and the eighth to tie the contest at 3-3. The
teams then went to extra innings, with the Orange & Maroon
finally ending the game in the 12th, the longest game
since SU played Juniata to a 4-4 tie in 12 innings back on March
26, 2007 and tied Wilkes 11-11 on April 12, 2005.
SU stole 11 bases in the contest, with junior Jared
Musilli (Branchville, N.J. / High Point Regional) swiping
four bags. Musilli finished with a game-high three hits and one
RBI.
Junior Kyle Semmel (Burlington Twp., N.J. / Holy
Cross) recorded two RBI while Ty Raubenstine
(Elizabethville, Pa. / Upper Dauphin Area) and
Nick Kennedy (Brookeville, Md. / Good Council) had
two hits apiece.
Starting pitcher Spencer Hotaling (Selinsgrove, Pa. /
Selinsgrove Area) threw eight innings, giving up four
hits, allowing two earned runs and striking out six Knights.
Despite giving up three runs in the fourth, Hotaling only let two
more runners on base during the rest of his outing.
Freshman A.J. Pinto (Bronxville, N.Y. / Fordham
Prep) earned the win as he relieved Hotaling in the
eighth, going three innings and striking out four while allowing
just two hits. Senior closer Matt Smith (Blue Ridge Summit,
Pa. / Wyoming Seminary) shut the door in the
12th, earning his fifth save in as many chances.
Raubenstine led off the game with a single up the middle and
later scored on a run-scoring single by Semmel, giving SU an early
1-0 lead. That remained the score until Arcadia put together a
three-run fourth to put the Crusaders in a 3-1 deficit.
But SU kept fighting and got within one during the next inning
with Taylor Luckenbill (Pottsville, Pa. / Nativity
BVM) starting the frame with a single to right center.
After a bunt base hit by Dylan Glassmire (Doylestown, Pa. /
Central Bucks South), Semmel followed with another RBI to
make the score 3-2.
The Crusaders knotted the contest at 3-3 in the eighth as
Ben Miller (Columbia, Md. / Hammond) was hit by a
pitch and eventually touched home on a squeeze bunt by Kennedy. SU
threatened to score the go-ahead run in the ninth with Semmel on
third, but could not find a way to bring him home as the game
headed to extras.
Arcadia had runners on second and third with two outs in the
bottom of the 10th but an unassisted put-out by Glassmire ended the
scoring threat and continued the contest.
Finally in the 12th, the Crusaders broke through as
freshman Jimmy Kinneally (Brielle, N.J. /
Manasquan) lifted a pinch-hit single to center field and
would later advance to third on a failed pick-off attempt and
throwing error by Arcadia's pitcher. Musilli followed with an
RBI single to right and eventually touched home on a RBI groundout
by Raubenstine.
In the bottom of the 12th, Smith allowed a pair of
runners to reach before retiring the next three batters, all on
strike outs to continue the team's six-game winning
streak.
The Crusaders end their Florida Spring Training Trip tomorrow
against Northwestern (Minn.) at 10:00 a.m.
