SCRANTON, PA – Susquehanna University Baseball finished their stay at the 2024 Landmark Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon, dropping the elimination game to Catholic by a 6-1 score.

After a disappointing 12-inning marathon in Friday's opening round against Elizabethtown handed the River Hawks a 9-8 defeat and the matinee Saturday spot, Susquehanna dueled Catholic to a scoreless first three innings. The two-seeded Cardinals, coming off a bombshell 25-5 loss to Scranton in their opening-round game, carved out a run to lead in the bottom of the fourth, then laid down three more in the fifth and a pair in the seventh. Susquehanna third baseman Tony Rossi led off the eighth, taking the first pitch of the inning for a ride to right center and a solo home run, which proved to be the River Hawks' lone run of the afternoon.

Tyler Rigot took the mound for Susquehanna to start the contest, starting off well as he struck out two of his first three batters to retire the side in the first. He struck out another to end the second inning, followed by the River Hawks loading the bases in the top of the third with no outs. But in another cruel twist of fate, none reached the plate despite the heart of the lineup having a crack at it. Behind the arm of Catholic starter Cody Bosak, Rossi struck out looking, then Dylan Heyduk flying out to shallow left and designated hitter Jack Cahill skying out to center. Susquehanna had another chance in the top of the fourth with first baseman Joe Healy standing on second with second baseman Griffin Shenman at the plate. Shenman singled through the right side and with Healy rounding third, CUA right fielder Lance Eilbacher rifled the ball to the plate to tag out Healy.

Catholic's offense reciprocated these defensive heroics with a two-out rally to plate a run. After Rigot retired his first two batters, Eilbacher walked to keep the inning alive, followed by Mitchel Johnson grounding one to deep short, which led to a throwing error by shortstop Michael Biuso to put runners on second and third. Derek Zelesnick then singled to right field to bring home Eilbacher. The Cardinals staged another two-out rally in the fifth for three runs. With Rigot again going two up, two down, Steve Thomas drew a walk, setting up back-to-back RBI doubles by Zach Burton and Sammy Burman to lead 3-0. Eilbacher tacked on an insurance run with a ribbie single to add to his big day as CUA took a 4-0 lead after five.

After a Matt Perlin leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, Rigot was replaced on the mound by Anthony Colucci. With one out and Perlin on second, Burton again drove in a run with an RBI single, followed by a RBI double from Mitchel Johnson to take a 6-0 lead. Rossi led off to start the eighth, taking the first pitch to deep right center that just cleared the 358 sign to put Susquehanna on the board. It would be the only hit the River Hawks could muster with reliver Cormac Terry on the mound, who came on in the start of the seventh and retired nine of his ten batters faced to advance the Cardinals to Saturday night's elimination game against the loser of Saturday afternoon's Scranton/Elizabethtown game.

Rigot pitched six-plus innings, striking out six and allowing four earned runs in seven hits. Colucci had one strikeout in his two innings of work, allowing one earned run on three hits. Susquehanna totaled six hits with one error, while Catholic managed ten hits with one error. Biuso, Rossi, Cahill, Healy, Mancuso, and Shenman each had one hit, with Biuso's and Mancuso's coming on doubles and Cahill stealing a base. For Catholic Eilbacher had three of their hits in a 3-for-3 outing with one, double, one RBI, and drawing one walk. Burton batted 2-for-4 with one double and a game-high two RBIs.