Box Score Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Susquehanna baseball team captured
its first-ever Landmark Conference tournament win on Saturday with
a decisive 11-4 win over Catholic.
In the process, the No. 2 seeded Crusaders (26-12) set a new
school record with their 26th victory of the year,
besting the 25 wins set in 1995—a team that won the Middle
Atlantic Commonwealth Conference.
Junior pitcher Spencer Hotaling (Selinsgrove, Pa. /
Selinsgrove Area) went the distance, going all nine
innings and striking out a season-best eight batters. Hotaling
threw 126 pitches--a staggering 90 for strikes--and gave up just
one earned run and scattered 11 hits in his ninth-career complete
game.
Sophomore third baseman Bryan Palsi (Brielle, N.J. /
Manasquan) led the offensive attack with a 3-for-4
performance at the dish, driving in two runs and scoring four
times. Palsi was a single away from the cycle as he hit a double,
triple and home run.
Junior Kyle Semmel (Burlington Twp., N.J. / Holy
Cross) had a team-high four hits and also recorded two
RBI. Leadoff hitter Ty Raubenstine (Elizabethville, Pa. /
Upper Dauphin Area) finished with three hits and two runs
scored.
Dylan Glassmire (Doylestown, Pa. / Central Bucks
South), Rob Marcickiewicz (Red Bank, N.J. /
Middletown South) and Nick Kennedy (Brookeville,
Md. / Good Council) all had two hits each with Glassmire
recording three RBI.
After falling behind early 1-0 to No. 3 seed Catholic (21-18),
the Crusaders tied the game in the bottom of the second on an RBI
groundout by freshman Dylan Jenkins (Glen Mills, Pa. /
Bayard Rustin).
SU tacked on another run in the bottom of the third to take a
2-1 edge before the Cardinals regained the lead in the top of the
fourth, scoring two unearned runs, to put SU in a 3-2 deficit.
However, the Crusaders responded and knotted the game at 3-3 in
the bottom of the frame as junior Jared Musilli
(Branchville, N.J. / High Point Regional) drove in Semmel
with an RBI single down the left field line.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Orange & Maroon jumped
to a 6-3 lead thanks to an RBI base knock by Glassmire followed by
a two-run blast by Palsi, his third round-tripper of the
season.
The scoring continued for the Crusaders in the sixth as
Glassmire connected with a two-run single to left center and Semmel
picked up an RBI base knock to left as SU took a 9-3 advantage.
The Cardinals trimmed the SU lead to 9-4 in the seventh with an
RBI infield single, but the Crusaders answered with a sacrifice fly
off the bat of Kennedy in the seventh and another RBI single by
Semmel in the eighth.
Earlier in the day, No. 4 seed USMMA knocked off No. 1 seed and
22nd-ranked Moravian 5-2 in the opening game.
The Crusaders now play Merchant Marine Academy tomorrow at 12:30
p.m. in the winner's bracket portion of the tournament.
