ELIZABETHTOWN, PA - Susquehanna University baseball held a 5-2 lead over Elizabethtown going into the bottom of the eighth, but four Blue Jays runs in the frame prevented the River Hawks from a weekend sweep as E-Town took a 6-5 victory. Susquehanna wraps its penultimate weekend Landmark series with a 13-6 Landmark record (22-12 overall) with the series finale against Lycoming and a weekend slate at Scranton upcoming.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Evan Applegate took his customary place on the mound for the Sunday outing, striking out a career high eight batters over 6.2 innings of work.
- His E-Town counterpart Justin Marraccini was just as effective, allowing just four hits by the River Hawks and just one earned run through the first seven innings.
- Entering the eighth Elizabethtown led 2-1, both coming from the bat of Jake Ruple. After Paul Daly brought in a run in the first on a sacrifice fly, Ruple tied the game with a home run in the second, then came back in the sixth for the go-ahead run thanks to his sac fly.
- The River Hawks sprung to life in the eighth when Marracini's day came to an end in favor of reliever Maximus Polun.
- Dylan Heyduk led off the inning getting hit by a pitch to go to first. Though Polun got his next two batters out, Susquehanna strung together a two-out rally, scoring four runs off three hits.
- Pinch hitter Jack Cahill tied the game with an RBI single to score Heyduk.
- Kaleb McGann singled in a run as well to take the lead, 3-2/
- Owen Ayers, who pinch ran for Cahill, reached home on a passed ball.
- Catcher CJ Orrego drew a walk, which happened to also be a passed ball to score McGann as the River Hawks led 5-2 heading into the bottom of the inning.
- While reliever Tommy Kowaliwskyj got his first batter to ground out, Elizabethtown tied the game by the time the second out had been recorded.
- A pair of walks and a wild pitch led Luke Goodwin, who started the game at third base, to move to the pitcher's mound for a save opportunity.
- Once again, Ruple came up big with an RBI single for his third ribbie of the game to cut the lead to 5-3.
- Pinch hitter Parker Summers followed with his own ribbie single to make it 5-4, then Alex Perrin tied the game with an RBI double.
- Goodwin struck out David Woolley to get one out closer, but a subsequent walk loaded the bases and Nick Fiorini up to bat. With a full count, Fiorini drew ball four to walk in the go-ahead run.
- Though Susquehanna had the top of the lineup due up in the top of the ninth, Cory Rible retired the side in order to pick up the save.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Susquehanna managed seven hits on the day by seven different River Hawks, all singles. They also drew three walks by as many batters.
- Heyduk batted 1-for-3 with two hit by pitches.Michael Girardi was 1-for-3 also with one walk.
- E-Town's Ruple and Perrin posted the only multi-hit games Sunday, with Ruple batting 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Perrin 2-for-4 with one RBI and one double. The Blue Jays finished with eight hits.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna has the last game of their series with Lycoming set for Wednesday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Williamsport before traveling to Scranton this weekend for a three-game set for Saturday and Sunday.
- The River Hawks still have one makeup game with Wilkes pending. Susquehanna is currently tied for second with Scranton with a 13-6 league record, while Wilkes is first place at 16-3.
- Elizabethtown is in fourth place at 12-9 in the Landmark.
