SELINSGROVE, PA - Susquehanna baseball had more walkoff heroics on Sunday to take the Landmark Conference series win over Catholic. After dropping the first game Sunday by a 5-2 score, the River Hawks took advantage of a throwing miscue in the bottom of the ninth with heads up baserunning by
Tony Rossi for the 4-3 walkoff win. With Friday's 11-1 win over the Cardinals, Susquehanna captured its second conference series win in as many tries and first series win over Catholic since 2019. They head on the road this Wednesday for the first of their weekday conference series at Juniata.
Game 1: Catholic 5, Susquehanna 2:
Susquehanna dropped game 1 of the doubleheader as despite a strong start from
Anthony Colucci, the offense mustered just two runs on four hits in the game to Catholic's five runs on 11 hits.
The River Hawks got ahead in the first inning after
Michael Biuso doubled off the wall in left and
Tony Rossi brought him home with a base hit to left center. Rossi would advance to third after advancing on a
Tyler Hmielewski walk and stealing third, but the River Hawks were unable to bring the junior infielder home.
Catholic scored three runs in the top of the second, scoring two runs on a double then another run on a single two batters later.
Michael Biuso was at it again in the third, reaching on a walk then advancing to third on a double by Rossi, then scoring on a sacrifice fly by
Jack Cahill.
Catholic added another run in the sixth and completed their scoring in the ninth, with Colucci taking the loss despite allowing just two earned runs in 5.1 innings of work.
Brice Gregory came in from the bullpen and got two outs on just one pitch, with
Christian Biuso stepping on third and firing to Rossi at first for an inning-ending double play in the sixth.
Aidan Martin came in for the seventh and completed the game.
Game 2: Susquehanna 4, Catholic 3
The River Hawks won in dramatic fashion as Rossi came home to score the winning run after a pitch to
Tyler Hmielewski got away from the Cardinal catcher, then the ball got away from the pitcher allowing Rossi to score.
The River Hawks scored runs in the second and fourth courtesy of
Sam Martucci, who reached base on an infield single in the second and later came around to score on a
Dylan Heyduk RBI groundout, then walked in the fourth, scoring again via a Heyduk groundout.
The hosts added a third run in the sixth when they put together a one-out rally, with Hmielewski walking and stealing second, before Heyduk walked and
Christian Biuso brought home Hmielewski with an RBI single to left center.
Teagan Duffie got the start for Denny Bowers's team, going five strong innings while allowing just one hit and striking out eight Catholic hitters. After he was relieved by
Brice Gregory, the Cardinals went scoreless in the sixth, but pushed across two runs in the seventh after back-to-back doubles and a wild pitch to bring home the second runner.
Vincent Mariella worked 2.1 innings after relieving Gregory, then
Evan Applegate got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.
Applegate surrendered the tying run after back-to-back runners reached base via a walk and a fielder's choice. He was relieved by Martin with one out in the top of the ninth. Martin walked the next batter to load the bases, then a sac fly by Catholic's Mitchel Johnson tied the game at three with the runner Applegate was responsible for scoring. Martin worked out of the jam, however, striking out the next batter.
The game appeared headed for extra innings in the bottom of the ninth after both
Sean McCulloch, who had three hits in game 2, and
Michael Biuso were retired, but Catholic elected to intentionally walk Rossi, then issued back-to-back walks to
Michael Girardi and Cahill, before the game was ended on an error by the Catholic pitcher.
Martin picked up his second win of the season as the River Hawks picked up their first series win over Catholic since 2019. The River Hawks move to 8-11 on the season and 4-2 in the Landmark Conference ahead of a midweek clash with Juniata on Wednesday, March 27 at 3:30 p.m.
