2/22/25

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Lackawanna baseball's potent offense was frozen out in a pair of losses on a chilly Saturday afternoon, as the Patrick & Henry CC Patriots swept past the Falcons, 5-2 and 4-0, in Virginia.
 
The Falcons (2-3) had just two extra-base hits in the two games combined, and they struggled to get their offense up and running throughout the day on the road.
 
In game one, Lackawanna struck first on a John Hughes (Hamilton, NJ) RBI double in the first inning, but the Patriots (9-3) responded with a pair of solo home runs to go ahead 2-1 after one inning of play. A PHCC RBI single in the third stretched the lead to 3-1, and the Falcons would not get anything going until the eighth inning.
 
In the top of the eighth, Louis Kegerreis (Murrysville, PA) led off with a single and eventually go to third. He scored on a Hughes RBI single to cut the deficit to just 3-2. Hughes got to second with one out, but a foul out and a ground out stranded the runner in scoring position. Patrick & Henry made the Falcons pay in the bottom frame, getting a lead off double and cashing that in after the runner stole third, then came home to score. A sac fly pushed the lead out to 5-2 for the Patriots heading into the ninth.
 
In the ninth inning, Lackawanna got a one-out walk, followed by a Jake Kelleher (Exeter, PA) single to put two on with one out. A strike out put two outs on the board, and a fly out to right ended things before the Falcons could rally.
 
Hughes was 3-for-4 with two RBI in game one, while Kelleher and Tyler Lepage (Macungie, PA) both collected a pair of hits. Nick Matson (Nanticoke, PA) was 2-for-3 with a walk. The Falcons stranded ten runners on the day. Starter Ryan Novakowski (Forty Fort, PA) was hit with the loss, his first of the year, surrendering three runs on four hits in five innings of action, striking out five and walking just one.
 
In game two, Patrick & Henry starting pitcher Dylan Grabowski was excellent, pitching six shutout innings and limiting Lackawanna to just three hits and seven strikeouts in the seven-inning loss. The Falcons were burned by a pair of errors in the first inning, and they gifted the Patriots three runs to take an early lead.
 
Lackawanna had a chance to cut into the lead in the third, when Kenny Hirschfeld (New Hyde Park, NY) led the inning off with a single. With two outs, Kelleher doubled, but Hirschfeld was caught trying to go home, and he made the final out of the inning in a rundown between third and home.
 
Starter Liam O'Leary (Souderton, PA) struck out the side in the bottom of the third, and the Falcons got another lead off single, this time from Kegerreis, to start the fourth. Kegerreis got to third with one out, but a strike out and a fly out stranded the runner and kept the Falcons off the board through 3.5 innings.
 
Patrick & Henry added a run on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, and Lackawanna College could just never get much going the rest of the way.
 
Kelleher, Kegerreis, and Hirschfeld were the only Falcons to record hits. O'Leary was saddled with the loss, dropping him to 1-1 on the year, but he pitched well, giving up four runs, just one earned, on five hits in five innings, while striking out eight batters.
 
Lackawanna College will attempt to salvage a game against Patrick & Henry on Sunday, February 23^rd, with a nine-inning contest starting at 11:00am ET in Martinsville, VA.