AMBLER, PA (May 20, 2023) – Susquehanna baseball claimed a place in the finals of the Ambler Regional of the NCAA Baseball Championships on Saturday evening after a long and rainy day on the diamond, first being knocked into the elimination game after a 20-0 defeat against Rowan, but then rebounding to defeat SUNY Brockport 8-6 and earn a chance for a rematch with Rowan on Sunday.
Game 1: #23 Rowan 20, Susquehanna 0
The first game of the day against Rowan saw the River Hawks dealt an immediate hammer blow as their opponents scored seven runs in the opening inning. The runs continued to rack up as the game pressed on, with the River Hawks unable to mount enough momentum to turn the tides. While SU never found their footing, the offense did still manage nine hits, including a double from J.P. Yore and multi-hit games by Sean McCulloch, Tony Rossi, and Dylan Heyduk. McCulloch and Rossi would both also pick up a stolen base.
Game 2: Susquehanna 8, Rowan 6
After the challenging first result of the day, the River Hawks mustered a remarkable response with just a short amount of time between games, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom the 1st inning after McCulloch led off with a single, Brock Veit drew a walk, and Rossi continued his remarkable stretch off play with yet another clutch hit, launching a two-RBI triple to right center. The third run followed as Rossi came home to score on a sacrifice fly by Yore.
Brockport answered straight away in the top of the 2nd, scoring two runs on two hits, but not able to tie the game back up. Susquehanna's lead would grow back to two in the bottom of the 4th after Michael Biuso ripped a double down the right field line that scored Lance Book. Yet again, Brockport answered immediately to cut the lead back to a single run in the 5th. After holding SU off the board in the bottom of the frame, the Golden Eagles took their first lead of the day in the top of the 6th with three straight singles to start the inning that scored them two runs, making the game 5-4 in their favor.
It would take until the bottom of the 7th for Susquehanna to answer, but they did so in style, unleashing a four-run, four-hit inning with Rossi and Book both producing two-RBI singles. The 8th would be scoreless, leaving it all up to the 9th, with Brockport facing off against Teagan Duffie, who returned to the mound for his third inning of relief work. The Golden Eagles had a bit of fight left, hitting a lead-off home run to make the score 8-6. But there it would stay, as Duffie worked his way through the rest of the batters and claimed the win.
Rossi continues to shine, adding a game-high four RBIs on the day to bring his tournament-leading total to nine, while three of his seven hits have gone for extra bases. He and the rest of the offense will need to fire on all cylinders on Sunday, as the River Hawks will need to beat Rowan twice in order to claim the Regional Championship. The first game will begin at 11:00 am.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
