SELINSGROVE, PA - Susquehanna baseball made a pair of powerful statements Saturday to open their series against Drew, taking both games of the doubleheader to advance to 9-5 on the year in Landmark play. Josh Damaracki took the bump in game one, striking out seven over as many innings for a 10-6 win in the opener.
Ben Gearhart took the mound to start game two, rebounding from two Drew runs in the first with five shutout innings as the River Hawks won 13-7.
GAME ONE: SUSQUEHANNA 10, DREW 6
- Damaracki and his Rangers counterpart Tyler Bell had a good duel going as both went through two hitless innings to start.
- The game was scoreless until the fourth when Dylan Gallagher hit a solo home run as Drew led 1-0.
- It didn't take long for the River Hawks to answer as in the bottom of the inning the bases were loaded for Andrew Haussman, who hit a grand slam to center field and got SU up 4-1.
- CJ Orrego followed this up with an RBI single later in the inning.
- The home runs kept coming as designated hitter Paul Daly followed up his walkoff home run against Lycoming on Wednesday with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth for a 7-1 lead.
- Lincoln Hower added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Orrego from third.
- The Rangers looked to rally in the top of the seventh with three runs. Domaracki withstood the runs to get out of the inning to finish his day with seven strikeouts and nine hits with four earned runs.
- Drew made things interesting with two more runs in the eighth to make it a two-run game at 8-6.
- The River Hawks made the most of what they deemed to be their last chance to bat in the bottom of the eighth as third baseman Luke Goodwin, who up to this point was Susquehanna's reliable relief pitchers, led off the inning with a solo home run to make it 9-6.
- This was echoed later in the inning as Michael Girardi produced an RBI single.
- Reliever Tommy Kowaliwskyj came on in the eighth for Susquehanna to close the door, doing so with getting the final six outs after facing eight batters.
- Susquehanna finished with 11 hits, with two each from Dylan Heyduk, Goodwin and Orrego. True to form, Heyduk also drew two walks, bringing his career total to 104 and just five away from Tony Rossi's program record.
- Apart from the three home runs, Orrego had the team's one remaining multi-base hit with a double.
GAME TWO: SUSQUEHANNA 13, DREW 7
- Ben Gearhart took the mound for game two. While things began rough with Drew scoring two runs on a wild pitch and balk. He then settled in to shut the Rangers out over the next five innings.
- This allowed the offense to get going as Paul Daly produced an RBI single to cut the lead in half in the third. Lucas Zachesky offered a ribbie single of his own to tie the game, then a Luke Goodwin groundout got Daly to score. Zachesky eventually scored too on a wild pitch as SU led 4-2 after three.
- The River Hawks added two more in the fourth as a wild pitch scored Lincoln Hower. Michael Gagliardi offered up a sacrifice fly later in the frame to score Michael Girardi.
- The sixth inning offered Susquehanna three more runs as Heyduk had an RBI single, followed by a two-run double by Gagliardi to lead 9-2.
- Drew once again offered some trouble in the seventh and eighth innings, plating five runs to cut the deficit again to two runs. In that stretch Zach Plank came on in relief to get the last two outs in the seventh, then Austin Ozarowski came on to get the final six outs.
- Before the Rangers could plot a ninth-inning rally, Susquehanna flipped the script by getting four insurance runs in the bottom on the eighth.
- Heyduk got the scoring started as he laid down a bunt with Girardi on second. An error offered Girardi the green light home to make it 10-7.
- Gagliardi singled home another run on the next at bat.
- As the River Hawks continued to tear up the base paths, another Drew error scored Derek Asche from third. Zachesky offered the last of the fireworks with an RBI single to lead 13-7.
- This sizable lead offered head coach Denny Bowers to pinch hit and rub in his seniors as part of senior weekend. Upperclassmen Owen Ayers, Rob Cangelosi, Jack Cahill and Vito Demonte all made their way into the lineup during this stretch.
- Ozarowski managed a 1-2-3 inning to close out the game.
- Susquehanna totaled 14 hits to Drew's eight. Girardi and Gagliardi each had one double.
- Girardi batted 3-for-4, while Gagliardi, Heyduk, Daly and Zachesky totaled two hits apiece.
- The River Hawks' aggression on the base paths also benefited with seven stolen bases, including two from Girardi as he came across to score three times to lead the team.
- Gearhart struck out two batters in 6.1 innings of work to go 5-0 on the year. Ozarowski struck out two in his two innings of work.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
