4/23/23
 
STAFF REPORT – In a meeting between the top two teams in Region XIX, it was Lackawanna College baseball that once again came out on top, as the Falcons took down the second-place Sussex County CC Skylanders in a pair of games on Sunday afternoon at Scranton HS, all but sewing up the Region XIX DII regular season championship for the Falcons. Lackawanna won a tight game one, 8-7, and took game two by a wider margin at 9-2.
 
The Falcons (28-13, 14-1) built a 7-0 lead over the first four innings of game one, highlighted by a four-run first inning to get things started. Three straight RBI singles from Christian Rush (Perkasie, PA), Michael Miller (Lafayette Hill, PA), and Eric Ludwick (Bethlehem, PA) highlighted the inning. Then, three more came home, courtesy of a pair of doubles and a single, pushing the Falcons lead out to 7-0. The Skylanders (24-7, 10-5) finally got to the Falcons in the fifth, touching up starter Kyle Scott (Westminster, MD) for six runs in the fifth before chasing him from the game. They scored another run to tie things up, but the Falcons responded with a bases-loaded RBI single from Michael Rickert (Moosic, PA) in the bottom frame to get the lead back. Matthew McElligott (Columbus, OH) threw a scoreless inning of relief in the sixth, and Jace Cunnane (Clarkstown, NY) came on to pitch scoreless seventh to earn the save and secure game one for the Falcons. Rush was 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Ian Murphy (West Deptford, NJ) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Brayden D'Amico (Bethlehem, PA) was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Rickert finished 2-for-3 with his RBI.
 
Scott struck out the side, getting around a two-out single, to give the Falcons a lift heading into the bottom frame. Zachary Walsh (spring Brook Twp., PA) drew a leadoff walk, and a Murphy single put runners on the corners. Rush singled to score Walsh, and a Miller single followed to make it 2-0, still with nobody out. Ludwick hit an RBI single, and D'Amico doubled home another run to push the Falcons lead out to 4-0, still with nobody out. The Skylanders managed to recover to get the next three outs to get out of trouble.
 
Other than a random two-out walk, neither team could get anything happening until the bottom of the fourth. A one-out double from Rickert gave the Falcons their first baserunner since the first inning, and Cole Casamento (Limerick, PA) quickly doubled him home to make it 5-0, Falcons. A Walsh RBI single scored another run, and another pair of doubles from Murphy and Rush brought another run home to make it 7-0 Falcons heading into the fifth.
 
That's where Sussex finally woke up. A pair of walks started off the inning, and a chopper back towards Scott deflected off his pitching hand, letting the runner aboard and the first run home for the Skylanders. A sac fly put an out on the board and let another run cross, and a wild pitch let another run get home to cut it to 7-3, Falcons. A single, followed by another error on the Falcons put two more on. A ground out put two away but let the runners get to second and third, and the big hit followed with a double that scored a pair of runs to make it 7-5. That forced Lackawanna to lift Scott for McElligott. A single, followed by a double, scored a pair of runs to tie the game, before McElligott got the final out of the inning on a liner to third to get the Falcons out of trouble.
 
A Ludwick walk started the bottom of the fifth, forcing a pitching change from Sussex. The bases quickly filled up with a D'Amico single and a Mitchell Jolikko (Middletown, NY) walk, still with nobody out. Rickert came up and inside-outed a pitch to shallow left, dropping neatly in front of the left fielder and allowing what eventually became the game-winning run to score, still with nobody out. The Falcons still had the bases loaded, with nobody out, but two straight infield fly rules retired two straight batters, and a strikeout ended the inning before Lackawanna could tack on any more.
 
McElligott came back out for the top of the sixth, and got around a hit batter and a two-out walk to keep the Skylanders off the board. The Falcons had two baserunners in the bottom half, but Sussex managed to keep the Falcons from scoring and send the game into the decisive seventh inning.
 
Cunnane came on for the save opportunity, and a one-out single put the tying run aboard, but Cunnane induced a ground ball to second that was quickly worked for the 4-6-3 double play to end the game and give the Falcons a dramatic 8-7 win in game one.
 
Game two was a lot less stressful for the Falcons, as Lackawanna scored eight runs in the first inning to build a lead they'd never surrender, thanks to a stellar complete game outing from Aiden Starn (Pennsville, NJ). Starn scattered seven hits over seven innings, allowing two runs, one earned, with eight strikeouts for the win. Miller got the scoring started with a three-run homer in the first, and five RBI singles helped boost the Falcons. Miller finished 3-for-4 with his three RBI, while George Castro (Philadelphia, PA) was 2-for-4 with the RBI and a run scored, and Murphy went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.
 
The Skylanders got a runner to second to start game two after a single and an error, but Starn got a fly out and two straight strikeouts to keep Sussex from getting on the board. A one-out single from Murphy, followed by a walk, put two on for the Falcons, and Miller launched a missile, his team-high eighth homer, over the left field fence to immediately give the Falcons a three-run advantage. After a strikeout put two on the board, a Ludwick double, followed by a Ty Federici (Lehman, PA) single had two on and two out. Castro singled home Ludwick, and Rickert hit an RBI single to score Federici and make it 5-0. Walsh followed with an RBI single, then Murphy, then Rush, and the Falcons had eight runs on the board and forced a pitching change after one inning of work.
 
Starn danced out of trouble after back-to-back one-out singles in the second, and things were quiet until the bottom of the third. A one-out walk was drawn by Walsh, who quickly stole second and third to get into position, where Murphy brought him in with a sac fly to center. Rush walked and Miller singled to keep the inning alive, but a fielder's choice ended the potential rally.
 
Starn kept things quiet, and the Falcons were similarly silent until the bottom of the fifth, where they had a pair of two-out singles and a passed ball had runners in scoring position, but a big strikeout ended the potential big inning for the Falcons.
 
Some two-out magic started working for the Skylanders, after an error let a runner reach and then another runner come home, and then an RBI single scored a second run for Sussex. Starn recovered to get a ground out to get out of trouble. He got a chance to come back out and finish the job in the seventh, and, after a leadoff single, he managed to get the next three outs to get the complete game victory and secure the doubleheader and season-sweep over Sussex for the Falcons.
 
With the win, Lackawanna College has now won ten straight, and 21 of its last 25 games. The Falcons, thanks to their five straight Region XIX wins over the weekend, now sit three games ahead of second-place Delaware Tech in the standings, with just three Region XIX games remaining for both teams, all but guaranteeing the Falcons home-field advantage for the Region XIX tournament next month. Lackawanna College gets back to the rest of its regular season scheduled on Tuesday, April 25^th, when the Falcons travel to take on the SUNY Dutchess CC Falcons for a single, nine-inning game in Poughkeepsie, NY. First pitch is at 3:30pm ET.