Box Score 5/2/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The regular season finale provided plenty of fireworks for Lackawanna College, but their cross-division rivals from Northampton CC got the better of the Falcons on Monday afternoon, winning an all-out slugfest, 15-11, in Bethlehem.
 
The Falcons (22-17) gave as good as they got, peppering the Spartans with 17 hits, but the DIII opponents from Northampton (32-8) took advantage of five errors from the Falcons, three of which directly led to runs. Lackawanna College held a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth, but a grand slam completely flipped the game on its head, igniting the Northampton offense and forcing Lackawanna College to play catch-up the rest of the way.
 
Spencer Butz had a big breakout game, going 4-for-6 with a solo homerun and a two-run single, collecting four RBI and three runs scored on the day. Eric Ludwick went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI, while Jacob Simpson and Ian Murphy each hit homeruns to help the Falcon cause. Mason Drummond got hit with the loss, giving up eight runs, just three earned, on three hits in 1.2 innings of relief.
 
Butz hit his solo shot on a laser to left to lead the game off, setting the tone for what would be a game that never lacked for runs. Northampton, seventh in the latest NJCAA DIII rankings, sat down the Falcons in order after that, and responded quickly in the bottom frame, with a one-out RBI single to tie things up. Later, with runners on second and third and two away, a two-run single put Northampton on top. A double to left put runners on second and third with two outs again, and a wild pitch allowed the runner on third to make it 4-1. Matthew Stam, the starter for the Falcons on the day, managed to strikeout the last batter to end the inning.
 
The Falcons got a run back in the top of the second, thanks to a lead-off walk, followed by a wild pitch, and an RBI single to center from Ludwick, making it 4-2. Stam retired the Spartans in order in the bottom frame, sending the Falcons into the top of the third with a little momentum.
 
In that third inning, Butz led it off with a single to left, which was immediately followed by a line drive homer to left field by Simpson to tie things up at 4-all. Giovanni Lopez singled, advanced to second on a ground out, and then stole third to put himself 90 feet away. A strikeout put two away, but another RBI single from Ludwick brought Lopez home to put the Falcons up 5-4.
 
In the bottom frame, Stam hit the leadoff batter to put a runner on, and, after a steal, and a ground out put him on third, a sac fly to center scored the runner to tie it at five. Stam managed to pitch around a walk and another hit by pitch to strike out a batter and strand the runners.
 
The Falcons got the lead again in the top of the fourth with a little run manufacturing. A lead-off single from Joseph Wlieczek on a bunt got the Falcons a runner, and a David Curreri single, followed by a fielder's choice, scored Wileczek to put the Falcons up 6-5. The Spartans managed to get out of trouble to keep it to just the one run deficit, setting up their big fourth inning.
 
With Mason Drummond pitching to start the bottom of the fourth, the first two Spartans went down in order thanks to a line out and a pop out. A ground ball error on the infield allowed a baserunner, and a single, followed by a walk, loaded the bases with two away. What followed changed the course of the game, as the Spartans got a huge grand slam homerun to left field to put themselves up 9-6.
 
Needing to answer in the fifth, the Falcons got a pair of baserunners on back-to-back singles, but they couldn't do anything with it, and the Spartans made them pay in the bottom frame. A walk and a hit-by-pitch put two on with nobody out, but a big 4-6-3 double play left just a runner on third with two outs. An RBI single scored that runner, and another hit batsman, followed by a walk, loaded the bases again. On came Derrick Newman for the Falcons, and he was greeted with a two-run single to right to push the Northampton lead to 12-6. An error in the outfield allowed another run to score, making it a 13-6 advantage for the Spartans after five.
 
Butz got the Falcons started in the top of the sixth with a one out single, and then stole second to put himself in scoring position. Eli Riley, into the game for the first time in the afternoon, brought him home with a line drive single to left to cut it to 13-7. The Falcons couldn't get any more, after a fly out and a strikeout ended the inning, and Northampton took advantage of more Falcon errors in the bottom frame. With runners on first and second and two outs, a grounder on the infield resulted in the second error of the inning, allowing one run to come home. Then, an errant throw on a stolen base attempt allowed another run to come home, stretching the Spartan lead to 15-7. Newman walked a pair of batters to load up the bases, but got out of trouble with a ground ball to first to strand the runners.
 
Ian Murphy led the seventh off with a solo homerun to left, cutting the deficit to 15-8. After a strikeout, an error allowed Christian Rush to reach and get to second base. Curreri reached on a hit by pitch, and Butz hit a two-out RBI single to center that scored the pair of Falcons to get it to 15-10. In the bottom of the seventh, Samuel Daniels came on and got the Spartans to go 1-2-3.
 
The Falcons scratched another run across in the top of the eighth inning, after a two-out ground ball from Ludwick caused an error on the infield, allowing Daniel Keenan to score from third to make it 15-11. In the bottom of the eighth, Keenan came on to pitch, and was able to dance around a pair of singles and a hit by pitch to not allow any runs, sending the Falcons to their last chances in the top of the ninth.
 
Ranciel Ventura came in and hit a one-out single, and Riley had a two-out single to left to put two on, but a fielder's choice on the infield ended the game, giving Northampton the win and sending the Falcons to their fifth loss in their last six games.
 
Lackawanna College now turns its attention to the Region XIX Tournament, where they will compete as the three-seed. The Falcons will take on the second-seeded Mercer County CC Vikings on Friday, May 6^th, at 10:00am ET at Sussex Central HS in Georgetown, DE. The winner of that game will face the winner of top-seeded Delaware Tech and fourth-seeded County College of Morris at 2:00pm ET. The teams who lost the 10:00am games will play in an elimination game at 2:00pm, as well.