SELINSGROVE, PA (April 1, 2023) – The Susquehanna baseball team was dealt a tough loss on Saturday afternoon, facing off against a high-powered offense in the visitors from Mary Washington along with some intense winds and rain. That offense for the Eagles came as advertised, racking up 16 hits enroute to a 9-5 win in extra innings, scoring four in the top of the 10th to seal a win.
Balls were hit hard throughout the game by both teams, and plenty would find gaps, particularly for Mary Washington. That began right away, as the Eagles hit two doubles in the top of the 1st inning, the second of which brought home the opening run of the game. After holding Susquehanna off the board in the bottom of the inning, the Eagles would tally again in the 2nd, with a one-out single getting a runner on before a failed pickoff brought them around to third, where they would then score on an RBI groundout to make the score 2-0.
The bottom of the 2nd proved much more fruitful for the River Hawks, as a lead-off single from Lance Book followed by Tony Rossi reaching on an error set the table for Michael Mancuso. With no outs, he laid an excellent bunt to move the runners over and managed to beat out the throw and earn himself a hit, as well as an RBI as the attempt to get Mancuso out at first went wild and allowed Book to come home to score. J.P. Yore then stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Rossi and tie the game at two each.
Scoring would go quiet for the next inning-and-a-half, before Susquehanna claimed their first lead of the game in the bottom of the 4th as Yore came up with one out and launched a moonshot solo home run over the right field fence. But once again, the bats of Mary Washington came out as they hit two more RBI doubles in the top of the 5th to reclaim the lead. SU tied it back up in the bottom of the 5th with some savvy baserunning, with Dylan Heyduk leading off and being hit by a pitch, Sean McCulloch following with a walk, and the two pulling off a double steal during the next at-bat. With runners on second and third and one out, a Brock Veit sacrifice fly scored another run for the River Hawks and made the score 4-4.
The Eagles pushed ahead once more in the top of the 6th, grabbing a run on a two-out RBI single. From there, scoring would finally go quiet for an extended period, as SU cycled through relievers to keep the Eagles shut down. The trading zeros would last all the way up to the bottom of the 9th inning, when the River Hawks would once again prove their ability produce late-inning drama, with an RBI single from Heyduk scoring the tying run after a pinch-hit single from Thomas Romanelli got a runner on base and Jared Forscht came in as the pinch runner and stole second before reaching third on an error on the throw down.
Unfortunately, the work to force extra innings would be overshadowed by the Eagles in the top of the 10th, as the visitors put together a four-run, four-hit inning that culminated in a two-RBI single through the left side with two outs on the board that gave UMW the biggest lead of the game. With the score 9-5, the River Hawks were unable to produce a response in the bottom of the inning, with Veit hitting a solid double but no hits coming after.
Chad Cole was left with the loss after entering to start the 10th inning. Starter Dillan Weikel produced 5.2 innings of work, allowing five runs on eight hits and striking out two batters, ending up with a no-decision. The team finished with seven hits as a group, no player having more than one on the day, while Yore led in RBIs with two on the back of his sacrifice fly and solo home run.
SU will get two more chances against the Eagles, with a doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow beginning at noon. Now 12-9 overall and having dropped five straight games, the River Hawks will hope to improve their fortunes and pick up momentum with some potential high-quality wins against this Mary Washington squad that currently sits just outside the Top 25 rankings in DIII.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
