5/18/25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College baseball has found the recipe for postseason success, and the Falcons put the ingredients together once again to secure their place in the NJCAA Division II World Series.
 
Lackawanna got a 14-strikeout performance from Liam O'Leary (Souderton, PA) and scored 14 straight runs through the first five innings to overwhelm UConn Avery Point, 18-5, in the Division II East District championship contest on an overcast Sunday afternoon at Scranton HS baseball field.
 
The Falcons (34-16) were never truly challenged, scoring runs in seven of the eight innings they batted. Lackawanna hit three two-run homers and had six batters with two or more hits, led by Tyler Lepage (Macungie, PA) and his six RBIs on three hits. Lepage finished the weekend with eight combined hits and nine RBIs in three games.
 
Catcher Jake Kelleher (Exeter, PA) had three hits, including a two-run home run, and three RBIs, while outfielder Mark Zuppo (Garnet Valley, PA) went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. Center fielder Nick Matson (Nanticoke, PA) had three hits, while Deacon Brown (Williamsport, PA) drew for walks, scored four runs, and hit a two-run homer. Meanwhile, O'Leary was sparkling again, setting a season-high with his 14 punchouts, eleven of which came in the first 12 outs of the game. He gave up one run on five hits in six innings for his seventh win of the year.
 
The Pointers from Avery Point (31-8) made the championship round after winning an elimination game against SUNY Rockland CC the night before, and had thoughts of starting fast on offense and sending starter Martin Light out in hopes that he could hold back the powerful Lackawanna offense.
 
The Pointers got a one-out triple in the first inning, but O'Leary sat down the next two batters to strand that runner. Lackawanna grabbed the early lead in the bottom of the first, with a bases-loaded one-out single to right from Lepage that scored a pair and made it 2-0.
 
The lead tripled in the second, as Matson singled himself on and Zuppo cranked his first home run of his Lackawanna career deep into left field to make it 4-0. A walk with nobody out chased Light from the game, and Ben Centurelli was rudely welcomed to the game when Kelleher smashed an 0-1 pitch over the left center fence to push the Lackawanna advantage out to 6-0.
 
O'Leary struck out the side in order in the third for nine straight outs on K's to start the game, and the Falcons added a run when Matson singled with one out to score Brooks Henderson IV (Feasterville, PA), who doubled to get on with one out.
 
The Pointers struck out twice more in the fourth before a pop out to short ended the streak, and Lackawanna scored two more in the home half on a two-out bases-loaded single to right from Lepage, making it 9-0, Falcons, after four innings.
 
A leadoff single got the Pointers a baserunner in the fifth, but a 6-4-3 double play erased the runner and helped the Falcons get out unscathed into the bottom of the fifth, where they'd tack on five more runs on an RBI single, a bases-loaded HBP, another two-run Lepage single, and a Henderson single. When the dust settled, it was 14-0.
 
Avery Point scored to start the sixth with a leadoff single and an RBI double to left. O'Leary managed to sit down the Pointers in order with three straight strikeouts, securing his season-best 14^th K to strand a runner at third.
 
The Falcons answered right back on a two-out home run to left center field from Brown, his team-high 12^th jack of the year, giving the Falcons the 16-1 advantage.
 
A pitching change in the seventh finally let UCAP get some offense going, as the Pointers scored three runs on reliever George Creighton (Somers, NY). With the bases loaded and two down, the Pointers got a double from catcher Tim Cap to deep left center, clearing the bases to make it 16-4. Creighton eventually got out of trouble with a line out to end the inning.
 
UCAP scored a run in the eighth inning, when reliever Julian Montez (Westfield, NJ) threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded. Montez managed to get the crucial third out on a fielder's choice, and the lead was 16-5, Lackawanna, heading into the bottom half.
 
Jackson Weidner (Wildwood, MO) doubled to deep center with one out in the eighth inning to score two more for the Falcons, and Matson was brought in from center to close things out, getting around a two-out single and a walk to strikeout the final batter and set off the celebration, as the Falcons poured out of the first base dugout to dog pile on the infield.
 
The win, Lackawanna's seventh straight, sets up the Falcons for their sixth-ever trip to the NJCAA Division II World Series, set to begin next weekend in Enid, Oklahoma at David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The Falcons will be one of 12 teams competing in the national showcase. It's the fourth time that the Falcons have made the World Series under head coach Mike McCarry, who also won his 200^th contest as head coach with the victory.
 
Details on the seeding and first-round opponent for the Falcons will be confirmed early in the week.