FORT PIERCE, FL - The Susquehanna University baseball team delivered their first shutout win of the season Wednesday with a 7-0 victory over Misericordia. Starting pitcher
Caden Breault offered up six innings of shutout ball with three strikeouts, while relievers
Zach Plank and
Max Lipton helped close the door and keep the Cougars off the board as the River Hawks move to 4-3 on the year.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Susquehanna 1, Misericordia 0 - Catcher CJ Orrego brought home SU's first run of the day in the second inning on a two-out single, bringing home Paul Daly.
- Susquehanna 3, Misericordia 0 - The River Hawks pounced on the Cougars with a four-run third inning. The scoring began on another two-out rally behind Lucas Zachesky's two-RBI double to send home Dylan Heyduk and Michael Gagliardi.
- Susquehanna 5, Misericordia 0 - Jaden Buechler returned the favor by bringing in Zachesky home from second and Daly from third with his third-inning, two-RBI single.
- Breault reacted to his five-run lead with his first two strikeouts of the game in the fourth inning, fanning Shane Patten and Ben. St. Pierre. He added another K in the fifth when he sent down Drew Van Horn swinging.
- Susquehanna 6, Misericordia 0 - Gagliardi drew a four-pitch leadoff walk to get the River Hawks in business in the bottom half of the fifth. Four batters later Buechler added his third ribbie of the afternoon with a single to score Gagliardi from third.
- Breault sent the Cougars down in order in the sixth to finish his day with three strikeouts and just two hits allowed with three walks.
- Plank came on in the seventh to offer up another 1-2-3 inning, capped off by striking out pinch hitter Joe Peters looking.
- Susquehanna 7, Misericordia 0 - Orrego bookended the River Hawks' scoring by adding an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, doubling to left field to bring home Zachesky.
- Plank countered two singles by Misericordia in the eighth with two flyouts and striking out Patten looking to end the top half of the inning.
- Lipton was called on to get the final three outs, doing so in 1-2-3 fashion, including a game-ending strikeout to pinch hitter Chase Parice.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Susquehanna totaled 14 hits, while Misericordia had just four. Two of the River Hawks' hits were extra bases, both doubles by Zachesky and Orrego.
- Buechler had three RBIs to lead Susquehanna, batting 2-for-3. Zachesky also went 2-for-3 with two ribbies and coming around to score twice.
- Orrego finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Michael Girardi, Daly and Gagliardi also had two hits, with Gagliardi batting 2-for-3, while drawing two walks and scoring two runs.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna makes a side trip on Thursday to nearby Vero Beach, Fla. for an afternoon matinee with Capital at 1 p.m. The two teams squared off twice in the same location last year, splitting their series.
