Cole Luzins had a pair of hits including a home run, Tom Giamo scored the first run and pitchers John Cooley and Jack Kinney combined with junior Ryan Beckwith to limit Scranton University to a pair of early runs as the Susquehanna University Baseball team capped the 2018 season with a 4-2 win over the Royals Sunday afternoon on Volpe Field in Scranton.
Scranton (20-19) took an early lead as the Royals pushed across two runs in the bottom of the second inning off Cooley who started the game.
Susquehanna (17-23) rallied to tie the game in the fourth. Giaimo walked to start the inning and moved to second on a Luzins single. Jack Carroll reached on an infield single with a bunt toward third to load the bases. Lance Welsh followed with a single to center that scored both Giaimo and Luzins to tie the score.
The score remained tied until the eighth inning when Luzins connected on a one-out solo home run to give the River Hawks a 3-2 edge.
Scranton threatened in the bottom of the eighth but left a runner in scoring position.
Susquehanna added an insurance run in the ninth as Cameron Ott walked, moved to second on a balk and took third on a ground out before Alec Ranck doubled to the wall in left field to score Ott and give the River Hawks a 4-2 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Scranton loaded the bases with no outs but failed to score as Kinney struck out two straight batters and then ended the game with a line drive out to second base.
Luzins was the lone River Hawks with multiple hits as he finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a run batted in. Cooley started and went four innings with two runs allowed – one earned – with three walks and two strikeouts. Beckwith tossed two hitless innings with five strikeouts and Kinney capped the win with three scoreless innings of relief.
The win was the 250th of Head Coach Denny Bowers' career and marked the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that Susquehanna won at least 15 games under Bowers.
