LANCASTER, PA – The Susquehanna University baseball team saw their season come to a sudden end Saturday with a pair of heartbreaking defeats in the Landmark Tournament. The two-seeded River Hawks held a 6-1 eighth-inning lead against Scranton for the right to advance to Sunday, only for the Royals to score eight runs in the frame towards a 12-6 win. Susquehanna then turned around to face Elizabethtown in the elimination game, taking a 5-5 game into the 11th before the Blue Jays scored the game-winning run in a 6-5 victory.
SCRANTON 12, SUSQUEHANNA 6
- Ben Gearhart got the start for Susquehanna against the Royals, going seven-plus innings strong and shutting them out for the first five innings.
- Scranton did pose a threat at first as Gearhart's first pitch of the game hit the game's first batter Conor Campbell. Campbell moved to second after a failed pickoff.
- Susquehanna's defense came to the rescue for what would be a highlight day for the infielders. Shortstop Michael Gagliardi was positioned behind the second base bag with Campbell on. It proved to be the right place as Jared Cassella lined one up the middle that Gagliardi snagged and stepped on second for the unassisted double play.
- The River Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom half, leading Andrew Haussman to bat in the first run on a sacrifice fly, followed by Gagliardi scoring from third on a wild pitch to lead 2-0 after one.
- A pair of Scranton throwing errors led Susquehanna to score two in the third with two outs. CJ Orrego struck out for what would have been the third out, but a dropped ball and a missed throw by the catcher extended the inning and allowed Haussman to score.
- Lincoln Hower grounded one to third, but another bad throw kept the inning alive and Lucas Zachesky to score.
- Jaden Buechler gave SU its first runs off a base hit with his fifth-inning, two-RBI single to lead 6-0.
- Scranton got a run in the sixth and threatened to score more, but more skilled plays from the infield ended the inning with a 4-6-3 double play.
- Gearhart left the game in the top of the eighth for reliever Max Lipton. Gearhart finished with two strikeouts and five hits allowed.
- Lipton came on to get three outs in the eighth with Royals on first and second. He got his first batter to line out to right, but an ensuing bunt single loaded the bases. Jimmy Lundari cut the lead to four with his single to right.
- Coach Denny Bowers turned to Tommy Kowaliwskyj to get two outs. With a 2-2 count he got Aidan Casey to foul out to first, but pinch hitter Jack Portman cleared the bases with a two-out, three-run double to make it 6-5.
- Campbell drew a four-pitch walk before Bowers called on Austin Ozarowski for a save situation with runners on first and second. His first adversary was Jared Cassella, who doubled to left field and scored the two go-ahead runs to swipe a 7-6 lead. John Heitzman followed with a double down the right field line to lead 8-6.
- With Heitzman now on third Joey Granko bunted on a successful squeeze play to lead 9-6. All told Scranton totaled eight runs on six hits in the eighth.
- The top of Susquehanna's lineup was due up in the bottom of the eighth to spark a rally. Against new Scranton pitcher Kieran Lodewick Heyduk offered a one-out single, but no more.
- The Royals added three insurance runs to make it 12-6 going into the bottom of the ninth as Scranton reliever Logan Mason sent the River Hawks down in order to get the win.
ELIZABETHTOWN 6, SUSQUEHANNA 5 (11 INNINGS)
- Susquehanna was determined to get back on the winning track by scoring the game's first three runs in the first.
- Andrew Haussman got the first run on an RBI double, followed by a Paul Daly groundout to score Michael Gagliardi and finally Lucas Zachesky on an RBI single.
- The River Hawks sent Evan Applegate to the mound to start the game. He shut out the Blue Jays in the first, but encountered a second-inning threat when Alex Perrin scored two on a double.
- Susquehanna rebounded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the second as Gagliardi drove in a run on a single, followed by a Daly sacrifice fly to lead 5-2.
- Elizabethtown refused to go away, chipping away again in the third with two runs off a Tommy Kanakos sacrifice fly and a Jake Ruple RBI single.
- The Blue Jays tied the game in the fourth thanks to a Mason Woolwine sacrifice fly.
- Reliever Dominic Giglio took Applegate's spot to start the fifth as the game took on an eerie silence. Giglio and his successor Luke Goodwin held E-Town scoreless through the next four innings, while the Blue Jays' bullpen managed the River Hawks' lineup with equal ease.
- Elizabethtown got something going in the top of the ninth, getting runners on first and second before a hit by pitch loaded the bases with Kanakos coming to the plate with one out.
- Susquehanna's infield once again provided heroics as Kanakos lined one to Gagliardi and flipped it to Lucas Zachesky for an inning-ending double play.
- The game moved to extra innings where Elizabethtown tried again with a leadoff walk to start the 11th. The runner eventually moved to third, where Nick Fiorini singled to center to give the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead.
- Girardi singled to get Susquehanna in business in the bottom of the 11th, followed by a Heyduk walk to put two on.
- Gagliardi flied out to advance Girardi to third, but Haussman grounded out on a close play to the second baseman to end the game.
SEASON IN REVIEW
- After a modest start to the season, Susquehanna heated up throughout April with weekend Landmark series sweeps over Catholic and Drew, while taking two out of three against Scranton and Elizabethtown.
- They clinched the two seed for the Landmark Tournament with a 16-8 record and entered Saturday as the highest remaining seed following top-seeded Wilkes' ouster with defeats in Tuesday and Friday's tournament games.
- The River Hawks defeated Drew 12-5 on Friday to advance to the winner's bracket against Scranton. The Royals and the Blue Jays play for the Landmark title on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m.
