5/20/23
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – On a day when the normally hot Lackawanna bats were cold, it took some gutsy pitching and nifty field work to lift the Falcons over SUNY Sullivan CC and all the way to the NJCAA DII Baseball World Series.
 
Lackawanna College gutted out a 4-2 win over the Generals from Sullivan County on Saturday afternoon at Scranton HS, securing the NJCAA DII East District Championship and punching the Falcons' ticket to the DII World Series for the third time in five years, and the fifth time in program history.
 
The Falcons (38-15) were hard put to it by the Region XV champion Generals (23-19), and the pivotal moment came in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Falcons were clinging to a 3-2 lead and Sullivan had gotten back-to-back hits to lead off the inning and put runners in scoring position with nobody out. Falcons pitcher Nathan Russell (Drexel Hill, PA) was well past his usual time spent on the bump, and Lackawanna could feel the pendulum swinging firmly towards Sullivan. Russell got a punch out for the first out, then a short fly out to right, and finally a pop out to second to end the inning and strand the runners, sending the Lackawanna bench into hysterics. That moment paved the way for later in the game, when Spencer Butz (York, PA) came up with runners on the corners and two out, and shot a single through the hole in right field to score an important insurance run and make it 4-2.
 
Ty Morris (Manchester Valley, MD) pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Russell to keep the Generals from threatening much of anything, including an emphatic double-play to close out the eighth, and then Matthew McElligott (Columbus, OH) came on in the ninth after the leadoff man drew a walk to shut the door with three straight outs, ending the game on a fly out to center field, where Zachary Walsh (Spring Brook Twp., NJ) squeezed the ball to kickstart the celebration.
 
Walsh finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Dennis Pierce (Quakertown, PA) continued his scorching hot play, going 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Ian Murphy (West Deptford, NJ) added a solo homer, and Christian Rush (Perkasie, PA) had two runs, a pair of walks, and a triple. Morris got the win, his seventh of the year, while McElligott shut the door for his second save of the season.
 
Sullivan, which defeated Delaware Tech 6-3 in an elimination game earlier in the day to get to the championship round, was led by Jim Paredes going 2-for-4 with an RBI, and pitcher Jake Yager, who was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and went 7.1 innings strong, giving up four runs on six hits in a gutsy effort.
 
Lackawanna lost a coin toss before the game to decide home and away, meaning the Falcons had to play as the visitors on their own home field, but they got the game started directly on the front foot, when Walsh singled on the first pitch of the game, followed by a walk from Murphy to put two on with nobody out. Later, with runners on the corners and one out, a passed ball let Rush steal second and let Walsh come home to make it 1-0. A fly out put two away, but Pierce punched an RBI double through the gap to score Rush and make it 2-0, Falcons, after the top of the first.
 
Things were quiet until the bottom half of the second, when catcher Andi Rivas doubled to start the inning for Sullivan. The Generals pushed Rivas to third on a ground out, then scored him on an RBI single from Paredes, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Russell managed to wiggle out of trouble, getting a fielder's choice to get Paredes out on the base paths, and a line out to third to end the inning.
 
Lackawanna go the run back in the top of the third, when Murphy sent a ball into orbit over the left field fence for a solo homer with one out, re-establishing the two-run advantage for Lackawanna at 3-1. Rush drew a walk, but was thrown out stealing by Rivas, and a strikeout from Yager ended the top of the third.
 
Sullivan got a one-out walk from Austin Napoli in the bottom of the third to get a baserunner, and Napoli stole second with two outs to get into scoring position. Yager helped himself out with an RBI single to cut the Lackawanna lead down to 3-2. Russell got a fly out to center to keep the damage minimal.
 
The Falcons still lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, when the Generals had maybe their best opportunity of the day. Third baseman Elquin Rodriguez singled up the middle to climb aboard, and Jim Paredes doubled to left to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Russell stepped up, striking out a batter, getting a fly out to shallow right for the second out, and then a pop out to second to strand the runners and give the Falcons a big boost after four.
 
Lackawanna wasted a one-out walk from Walsh when the Generals turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the fifth, but Morris came on to relieve Russell in the bottom frame and, after a one-out single put a runner on, pitched the Falcons out of trouble to keep the score at 3-2 after five innings.
 
The top of the sixth saw Lackawanna get a leadoff baserunner when Rush tripled to center. Back-to-back ground outs threatened to cut the inning short, but a walk put runners on the corners with two outs, and that's when Butz stepped in and poked a single through to not waste Rush, pushing the Falcon lead out to 4-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Morris retired the side in order in the bottom half, and Yager did the same in the top of the seventh. Morris got another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, punctuated by a great play at second base from Ranciel Ventura (Allentown, PA) to end the seventh.
 
The Falcons led 4-2 in the top of the eighth, and got a pair of baserunners with one out, forcing a pitching change for the Generals. Austin Payano relieved Yager, and got a second out, before a walk loaded the bases for Ventura. Ventura battled, but flew out to left to leave the bases loaded.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Yager, who moved to first base after getting relieved on the mound, was hit by a pitch to give the Generals a one-out baserunner. The tying run, represented by Rivas, came to the plate, but a ground ball to Brayden D'Amico (Bethlehem, PA) led to a major 6-4-3 double play that juiced up the Falcon dugout and got Lackawanna just one inning away.
 
Cameron Mann, who had been playing short stop all weekend, came on to pitch the top of the ninth for Sullivan. Mann gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning, and a ground out pushed both runners to second and third, with the Falcons looking for some insurance. Mann got a massive strikeout against Rush to put two away, then got a ground out to second to end the scoring threat and keep it at 4-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
 
Jeremy Coleman (Wilmington, DE) came on to pitch in the bottom frame, but gave up a leadoff walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Coleman was lifted for McElligott, who came in and got a big strikeout for the first out. A ground ball to short from Payano looked to be the last play, but Payano legged it out down the line to keep the game going with two outs. Nate Coffey checked in as a pinch hitter with Sullivan down to its last out, and he lifted a fly ball to center, where Walsh was waiting to make the catch and give the Falcons the district title and the World Series berth.
 
The Falcons will now await their fate, when the NJCAA announces the field for the 2023 DII Baseball World Series, set to take place on Saturday, May 27^th, in Enid, Oklahoma. Lackawanna College will be one of ten teams to compete in the tournament, and they will learn their place on Tuesday, May 23^rd.
 
Check back to lackawannafalcons.com for more information as it becomes available.