5/30/23
 
ENID, Okla. – Lackawanna College knew that pitching would come at a premium in its elimination game against St. Johns River State College, but the Vikings found it first, while the Falcons struggled to keep up, dropping a 23-9 decision in eight innings and ending a historic season for the Lackawanna baseball program at the NJCAA DII Baseball World Series on Tuesday evening in Enid, Oklahoma.
 
The Falcons (40-17) fell behind to the powerful Vikings by an 8-2 margin, early, but slowly chipped away at the gap, closing to within 11-9 after the fifth inning. SJR (46-18) turned up the pressure on the Falcons, scoring the game's next 12 runs, including an eight-run eighth inning where the Vikings scored all their runs with two outs, while the Falcons offense sputtered over the final three innings before the run-rule took effect.
 
A 1-1 game was broken open in the second by the Vikings with six runs in the top half, using a pair of walks, an error, a balk, and just one hit to race to an 7-1 advantage. St. Johns River took an 8-2 lead into the bottom half of the third, when the Falcons started to chip away. RBI singles from Ian Murphy (West Deptford, NJ), Michael Rickert (Moosic, PA) and Brayden D'Amico (Bethlehem, PA) helped the Falcons score four in the inning and cut the deficit to 8-6. The Vikings stretched the lead out to 11-6, but Lackawanna answered back with an RBI single, followed by two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 11-9. However, the warning signs were there, as the Falcons wasted the bases loaded twice in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
The Vikings made the Falcons pay, plating four runs in the sixth, getting stellar relief pitching out of the pen, then scoring eight runs in the top of the eighth, all with two outs, bookended by homeruns, the second being a three-run homer to all but seal the deal.
 
Needing to score a mountain of runs in the bottom of the eighth just to keep the game going, Lackawanna couldn't answer the bell, going down in order to end their run through the NJCAA DII World Series.
 
Lackawanna was led by Dennis Pierce (Quakertown, PA), who was stellar once again, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a walk, while Christian Rush (Perkasie, PA), Eric Ludwick (Bethlehem, PA) and Murphy all had RBI singles and two hits on the night. Rickert finished 1-for-1 with two runs scored and an RBI, drawing three walks. The Falcons pitchers surrendered 13 combined walks and had three strikeouts, giving up 23 runs on 16 hits. Lackawanna committed three errors on the night.
 
The loss puts an end to what was a historic season for Lackawanna College. For the first time in school history, the Falcons won multiple games at the NJCAA DII World Series, and the Falcons finished with 40 wins, tied for second all-time in school history for wins in a season. Lackawanna was 16-2 in Region XIX play, and went 6-0 in postseason play to get into the World Series, sweeping through the Region XIX and the East District tournaments just to get to Enid. Lackawanna won 12 games in a row at one point, and was 17-2 at home this season. 40 wins are the most the Falcons have won in five seasons under coach Mike McCarry.
 
Lackawanna's 2023 season has come to an end, while St. Johns River will get a rematch with top-seed Heartland CC on Wednesday evening in Enid in the semi-final round of the NJCAA DII World Series.