3/21/23
 
EXETER, Pa. -- It certainly wasn't the "home" opener Lackawanna College baseball envisioned for the 2023 season, but, with a bird of prey circling high in the sky throughout the afternoon, the Falcons felt right at home, smashing three homeruns in the fifth inning and pounding the Generals from SUNY Sullivan with a 14-4 eight-inning victory on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at the Bruno Ferretti Memorial Fields at Wyoming Area HS.
 
The Falcons (8-9) built an early lead and led wire-to-wire, putting up 17 hits, including nine extra base knocks, to snap a three-game skid. Lackawanna scored a pair of runs in each of the first and second innings, and, when its lead was cut to 5-4 after 4.5 innings, the Falcons used the decisive bottom of the fifth outburst to score four runs and put things out of reach. Eric Ludwick (Bethlehem, PA) and Christian Rush (Perkasie, PA) each left the yard, while Mitchell Jolikko (Middletown, NY) rounded the bases for an inside-the-park homer to stretch the lead for Lackawanna. The Generals (5-8) couldn't muster any offense from there, as the Falcons held their opponents hitless over the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, before wrapping things up early with the run-rule victory in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Jolikko was 3-for-5 with two RBI on a double and a triple, while Brayden D'Amico (Bethlehem, PA) was 4-for-6 with three RBI and a double. Rush was 2-for-5 with two RBI on the homer, plus two runs scored, and Michael Miller (Lafayette Hill, PA) was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Keon Burkholder (Williamsport, PA) came on in the top of the fifth and pitched two innings of scoreless ball for the win, striking out three batters.
 
Sullivan had the Falcons in a hole early, loading the bases with nobody out against Lackawanna starter Ty Morris (Manchester Valley, MD), but Morris got a fly out to shallow left, then a bang-bang 6-3 double play to get the Falcons out of the jam and fire the home side up.
 
Zachary Walsh (Spring Brook Twp, PA) led the bottom of the first off with a triple, and he was immediately brought home on an RBI double from D'Amico to open the scoring. A one-out balk put D'Amico on third, and Ludwick sac flied to center to score him and put the Falcons up 2-0, after one.
 
Rush started the bottom of the second with a leadoff double, then got to third on another balk. With runners on the corners and nobody out, an error on the first baseman allowed Rush to score and make it 3-0, Falcons. Later, with one out and a runner on second, Michael Rickert (Moosic, PA) smoked a gapper into center that brought home the run and made it 4-0, Falcons, after two.
 
Ty Federici came on to pitch in the top of the third, and Sullivan managed to get something going after a two-out error on the infield put a runner on. The next batter launched a two-run homer to left field to halve the deficit at 4-2. Federici walked the next batter, but settled in and got the fly out to escape the inning and minimize the damage.
 
The Generals had runners on the corners with two away in the top of the fourth against Federici, trailing 4-2, but the Falcons got a key ground out to short to get the force at second and keep Sullivan off the scoreboard.
 
In the bottom frame, Jolikko reached with a one-out single, then got to second on another Sullivan balk. He advanced to third on a ground out to second, and a Walsh walk put runners on the corners with two away. D'Amico cashed in with an RBI single to score Jolikko, but a ground out to third stranded two runners and kept it to just one run for the Falcons to make it 5-2.
 
In the top of the fifth, Sullivan really got a hold, using a leadoff double, followed by a triple to deep right center, to make it 5-3. A strikeout put one away for Federici, but a ground out to third was just deep enough to score the runner from third and cut the lead to 5-4. Federici got a ground out to end the inning and keep the Falcons in front.
 
The bottom frame was where the Falcons made their run. Ludwick cracked a dinger to right center field to lead off the inning, and, after a Miller single, Rush did the same, splashing one opposite field for a two-run jack to make it 8-4, Falcons, just like that. After a fly out was the first out, Jolikko got in on the action, ripping missile into the outfield that got by the defenders. Jolikko stayed on his horse, but as he rounded third with the go signal, it looked like Sullivan was going to have him hosed at the plate. No matter, Jolikko kept motoring, and managed to dislodge the ball from the catcher's tag attempt as he slid in for the inside-the-park homerun, setting off a wild celebrating in the Falcon dugout, and giving Lackawanna a 9-4 advantage. A Rickert walk, followed by a Walsh single, gave the Falcons two more baserunners with just one out, but a fly out, followed by a ground out, ended the threat.
 
On came Burkholder to start the sixth, and down went the Generals in order. He got a pair of strikeouts in the top of the seventh, pitching around a walk, to keep Sullivan off the board, but the Falcons couldn't give him any more run support.
 
In the top of the eighth, the Falcons still led 9-4, when Jeremy Coleman (Wilmington, DE) got his first action in two weeks on the bump. Coleman got a strikeout to start the inning, then pitched around a two-out walk to get the game into the bottom of the eighth.
 
Ranciel Ventura (Allentown, PA) led the inning off with a walk, and Cole Casamento (Limerick, PA) cashed him in immediately with an RBI double to right center to make it 10-4. Later, with two on and one out, Jolikko struck again, this time with an RBI double that scored Casamento and placed runners at second and third. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, and things really unraveled for the Generals when Walsh reached on an error at third, allowing two runs to come home and make it 13-4, Falcons. That opened the door for D'Amico to end things the way they started for his day: With an RBI hit, this time a single, that pushed the Falcons lead up to ten and activated the run-rule, walking off the Falcons for the win.
 
Lackawanna College is scheduled to get back to work this Friday, March 24^th, when they open up Region XIX DII play with another "home" contest, this time against County College of Morris. First pitch of the nine-inning game is scheduled for 11:00am ET at the University of Scranton's Volpe Field off Luzerne Street in south Scranton.