AMBLER, PA (May 21, 2023) – After a gritty run through the loser's bracket of the NCAA Regional round this weekend, Susquehanna baseball earned a spot in the Regional Championship and a rematch with Rowan University, the team that dealt SU their first loss of the tournament. The River Hawks fought hard, pushing the first championship game all the way to the wire, but ultimately falling just short of forcing the winner-take-all game 2 as they lost 4-3 to the Profs.

As they did in the game between these two teams yesterday, Rowan jumped out to an early lead on Sunday as well, albeit a smaller advantage this time around, scoring three runs in the bottom of the 1^st inning as they tallied what would ultimately be four out of their nine total hits on the day. From there, starter Dillan Weikel would settle into the game masterfully, holding Rowan off the board for the next three innings while allowing just two more hits, also striking out three batters. This gave SU the time they needed to cut back into the deficit, tallying a run in both the 2^nd and the 3^rd inning as the lead narrowed to one. The first run would come courtesy of a well-struck double to right field by Michael Biuso, which brought Dylan Heyduk home to score after a lead-off walk. Then in the third, some crafty baserunning turned a bad situation into a good one, as J.P. Yore reached base on a walk and moved Tony Rossi to second, but then would see himself get in trouble as he was caught in out by a pickoff attempt at first. The senior would employ some veteran savvy though, bolting toward second base and and engaging the Rowan defense in a lengthy rundown, allowing Rossi to advance to third and then round for home, reaching the plate and scoring before Rowan could notice or tag out Yore to end the inning, meaning the run counted for the River Hawks.

Brice Gregory would relieve Weikel on the mound in the 5^th and pick up right where he left off continuing to shut down the Profs' hitters in the 5^th and 6^th inning. After two runners reached base with one out in the 7^th, Gregory would make way for Vincent Mariella, who worked his way out of the jam with minimal damage, stranding three runners while Rowan scored just one run, keeping SU within striking distance. The River Hawks would immediately make good on that chance, matching the Profs' tally straight away in the top of the 8^th, as Rossi hit an RBI single up the middle to score Brock Veit, who led off the inning with a single of his own. After giving up a lead-off walk to Rowan in the bottom of the frame, Mariella would retire the next three batters in order and bring SU into the 9^th just one run behind.

The comeback looked on for SU as they led off the 9^th with back-to-back singles from Lance Book and Thomas Romanelli. But Rowan would get an out as Biuso laid down an attempted sacrifice bunt, but saw the Profs able to get Book out at third base, leaving SU with runners on first and second with one out. A second out followed on a strikeout, but the pressure mounted again as a wild pitch let Biuso reach second and Romanelli reach third. Sean McCulloch represented the last chance for the River Hawks, with the junior able to work a long at-bat and put the ball in play, but not quite able to beat out a grounder to second base, seeing the incredible fight by the SU squad come tantalizingly short of a Regional Championship.

SU finishes the 2023 season at 28-20 overall after an incredible postseason run. The team entered the Landmark Conference tournament as the 4^th seed, but fought through five games over the course of last weekend to claim their first Landmark title since 2019. They then continued to scrap through tough competition, winning two games in the NCAA Regional round, first beating hosts Arcadia in extra innings before rebounding from their first loss against Rowan to beat SUNY Brockport in the loser's bracket elimination game and earn their place in the Regional Championship. With many key contributors slated to return to the team in 2024, Susquehanna will undoubtedly have aspirations of another tournament run next season.

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--RIVER HAWKS--