Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 3/5/22
 
FLORENCE, SC – The Lackawanna College Baseball team finally got its season underway, taking on two top NJCAA programs from Divisions I and II in South Carolina in doubleheader action. Unfortunately for the Falcons, each game ended in defeat, as Lackawanna dropped their season opener to Florence-Darlington Tech 6-3, and the second game against Patrick & Henry CC 15-4.
 
Game 1 Recap: Florence-Darlington Tech 6 – 3 Lackawanna College
Lackawanna College took on the host Florence-Darlington Tech Stingers in the first game of the Falcons' 2022 campaign, but dropped the opener 6-3 in seven innings. A tough fourth inning where the Stingers scored three runs, two on a pair of wild pitches, blew open a tight game, putting the Falcons in a hole they couldn't climb out of.
 
Christian Rush went 2-for-2 with an RBI double, while Cody Fleischer went 1-for-4 with a solo homerun and Eli Riley went 1-for-3 with an RBI single. The Falcons (0-1) held Florence-Darlington to just five hits, but three errors hurt the Falcons' efforts. Jason Carpenter went 3.1 innings for Lackawanna, giving up five runs, two earned, on three hits and a pair of strikeouts in a losing effort. Meanwhile, Florence-Darlington (12-7) got six strong innings from Nathan Williams, who struck out 13 batters, while scattering five hits and giving up just two runs.
 
Lackawanna College wasted no time getting on base, as a Daniel Helfgott single led the game off, but Nathan Williams struck out a pair of batters and got Quinn Hanafin to line out to retire the side. Jason Carpenter took the mound for the Falcons in the bottom of the first, and got a 1-2-3 bottom half to get things off on the right foot for Lackawanna College.
 
Lackawanna had a runner in scoring position in the top of the second when Christian Rush drew a one-out walk, then stole second base, but Williams got a pair of strikeouts to end the Falcon threat.
 
In the bottom of the third, it would be the Stingers who finally got on the board, after a single and walk put two runners on-base, and then they advanced to second and third on a wild pitch with nobody out. Carpenter induced a line-out to short to get the first out, but a Williams single to center scored the two runners, making it 2-0 Florence-Darlington. Carpenter got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
 
The Falcons struck back in the fourth, as Quinn Hanafin launched a one-out double to center field, and then was brought home by a Christian Rush double to right field, making it 2-1.
 
The momentum would be short-lived for Lackawanna College, as the Stingers got a pair of baserunners on a HBP and an error. With runners on second and third and nobody out, DJ Sullivan singled on a grounder to second base, making it 3-1. After Sullivan stole second to put runners on second and third with nobody out again, Carpenter got a flyout for the first out of the inning, before Samuel Daniels came on in relief. Daniels got started with a bang, striking out his first batter to make it two outs, but, after a hit batter loaded the bases, Back-to-back wild pitches allowed two more runs to cross the plate, making it 5-1 Florence-Darlington.
 
The Falcons would get a run back in the top of the sixth inning. After a pair of strikeouts, Daniel Keenan reached on an error after a groundball to third. Christian Rush followed with a single to left field, putting runners on first and second. Keenan would come home thanks to an Eli Riley RBI single to right field, making it 5-2, but another strikeout ended the inning for the Falcons.
 
With Dan Petrouskie on the mound to start the bottom of the sixth for the Falcons, Sullivan smashed a triple to center field, and ended up reaching home on an error by the Falcons, making it 6-2, Stingers. Later in the inning, with runners on second and third and one away, Petrouskie wriggled out of trouble, striking a batter out and inducing a groundout to end the inning.
 
With their last licks coming in the top of the seventh, and Matt Poston on to close things out for Florence-Darlington, Cody Fleischer popped a two-out homer to centerfield to give the Falcons one last burst, before George Castro flew out to left to end the game.
 
Game 2 Recap: Patrick & Henry 15 – 4 Lackawanna College


In game two of the doubleheader in Florence, the Falcons took on the #8 team in the NJCAA DII polls, Patrick & Henry CC, the baseball club they saw last year in the NJCAA DII World Series. The Patriots scored nine runs in the first three innings, and the Falcons could never truly threaten the lead, as Patrick & Henry ran away with a 15-4 victory.
 
After the Patriots chased Falcons starter Aiden Starn in the first three innings, Lackawanna College (0-2) found itself down 9-0 heading into the bottom of the third. The Falcons would bounce back slightly in the bottom frame, with Eric Ludwick going opposite field with a solo shot, and then Christian Rush launching a three-run homer to close the gap to 9-4.
 
The Patriots (9-5) put runs on the board in the fourth and fifth innings to make it 11-4, and the Falcons had a baserunner on third in the bottom of the fifth, but they couldn't get the runner home. That was the theme for Lackawanna College after their breakout third inning, as the Falcons just couldn't get on track at the plate.
 
Patrick & Henry would add four more runs in the top of the seventh to round out the scoring.
 
Lackawanna College will get back to work tomorrow (Sunday 3/6), when they do it all over again. The Falcons pay Florence-Darlington Tech at 10:00am ET, then take on Patrick & Henry CC at 12:30pm ET.