HARRISONBURG, VA (February 19, 2023) -- The Susquehanna University baseball team scored 30 runs in the final two games, including 14 in the final two innings Sunday to complete a weekend sweep of Eastern Mennonite University in play from the EMU Baseball Field. Susquehanna finished off a suspended game from Saturday with a 16-13 win , and then knocked off the Royals 14-4 in the originally schedule single game for Sunday. 

Game 1: Susquehanna 16, EMU 13
The River Hawks were leading 16-11 in the top of the ninth Saturday afternoon when the game was called due to darkness. Susquehanna would fend off a late rally by Eastern Mennonite (0-6) to clinch the win 16-13, claiming the series win. 

SU was leading 3-2 after the first three innings of the contest, but three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings gave the River Hawks a 9-4 lead. Tony Rossi homered in the sixth inning to put SU up 10-4, but EMU rallied back to take an 11-10 lead with seven runs in the sixth. 

In the eighth inning, Susquehanna plated six runs highlighted by a two-run single from Lance Book to make the score 15-11. Rossi would follow with a run-scoring single to left center to score Brock Veit, who had reached earlier in the inning on a hit by pitch. 

When the game resumed on Sunday, EMU scored two runs and had the tying run at the plate but Teagan Duffie came in and struck out two before getting a fielders choice to end the game. Rossi finished 3-for-6 for two RBI and two runs scored, while junior lead-off hitter was 2-for-3 with four walks and four runs scored. 

Book finished with three hits in five at-bats, adding six RBI, and Michael Mancuso homered while scoring twice. Senior J.P. Yore went 2-for-4 with two runs, and while Jared Forscht scored three times. 

Tyler Rigot went four innings, fanning four Royal batters while allowing just three hits. Adam Stuck got the win after working two innings, allowing two unearned runs and three hits, and Duffie got the save as he needed just 14 pitches to work out of the jam. 

Game 2: Susquehanna 14, EMU 4
In the originally scheduled contest, Susquehanna trailed 2-0 in the top of the eighth but scored four runs in the eighth and 10 in the ninth frame for the win. 

EMU got on the board in the second with a sacrifice fly, and plated an insurance run in the seventh on a bases loaded walk. The River Hawks put runners on first and second with walks to start the eighth inning, and Yore made the game 2-1 with an RBI single to left field to score Book.

The big swing of the inning would come on the next at-bat by first-year Jack Cahill, who crushed a three-run, pinch-hit homer on the first pitch he saw as a River Hawk to make the score 4-2 in favor of SU. 

In the top of the ninth, Susquehanna would score all the insurance it would need, as it sent 15 hitters to the plate while tallying 10 times. Cahill would be back in the action on his second collegiate at-bat, hammering a two-run double to right center to make it 8-2. Three batters later, Sean McCulloch would hammer a two-run blast to right field to make it 12-2. 

The scoring would continue for the River Hawks thanks to another long ball, as Joseph Healy crushed a two-run shot over the left field wall to make it 14-2.

McCulloch finished with two hits, two RBI and two walks, while Mancuso was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Cahill finished the game 2-for-2 with five RBI, and Book was 1-for-1 with two walks and two runs scored. 

Duffie started for SU and allowed one earned run on two hits, fanning five, while Landon Ness worked a clean inning of relief. The win would go to Jack Greco, who allowed one hit and struck out five over three frames of work, and Logan Bernier and Aidan Piccioni closed out the game for SU. 

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Susquehanna will be back down south next weekend, traveling to Kannapolis, NC and Atrium Health Park to take on Piedmont University Friday, February 24 at 1 p.m. SU will battle Berry College Saturday at 4:30 p.m., before taking on No. 18 Denison University Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in non-conference play.