5/24/25
 
ENID, Okla. – Lackawanna baseball scratched, and clawed, and did what it could to get ahead of #5 Madison College, but the WolfPack showed why they keep showing up in the World Series, as the team from Wisconsin scored three runs to rally in the seventh inning and kept the Falcons from cashing in on runners at second for a 7-6 defeat for Lackawanna College on Saturday afternoon in first round action of the NJCAA Division II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
 
The Falcons (34-17) got a solo homer from Tyler Lepage (Macungie, PA) to go ahead 4-3, then led 6-4 after 5.5 innings on back-to-back RBI hits from Jake Kelleher (Exeter, PA) and Deacon Brown (Williamsport, PA). Heading into the bottom of the seventh, the WolfPack (44-9), appearing in their seventh straight World Series, earned a pinch-hit walk, then a one-out single and a sac fly to get within a run. A passed ball let the tying run score, an error let the inning continue, and a double scored the unearned run to push Madison in front.
 
With work to do and just six outs remaining, the Falcons got a pair of two-out singles from Lepage and Louis Kegerreis (Murrysville, PA), but a fielder's choice erased their opportunity. After Liam O'Leary (Souderton, PA) came on in the bottom half to silence the WolfPack, the Falcons again got runners on, working a pair of walks to put two on with one away. A pitching change with Kelleher up happened after ball one was thrown. Jake hit one deep into the hole and short, and hustled down the line, but the throw just beat him to the bag for the second out. Grant Dalton (Bedford, IN), who came in for an injured Brown, battled hard, but flew out to center to end the game and send the Falcons to the elimination bracket.
 
Brown was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, while Lepage was red-hot, going 4-for-5 with a run and two RBIs. Kelleher had a hit and a run scored, while Jack Hughes (Hamilton, NJ) had a hit and a run. Lackawanna stranded 14 runners, while drawing seven walks and striking out just twice. Meanwhile, Lackawanna pitching gave up eight walks and struck out nine batters, while the defense committed five errors. Josiah Williams (Emmaus, PA) was tagged with just his second loss of the season, giving up two runs, one earned, in an inning of work in the seventh. Starter Trey Sajeski (Holland, PA) lasted just the first three innings, giving up three runs on four hits and striking out four, but also walking three.
 
Lackawanna struck first in the top of the first, when Lepage singled home Hughes after an error put two on with two outs. Sajeski pitched around trouble in the bottom frame with three strikeouts to counteract two walks, but Madison took the lead in the bottom of the second, using a one-out single, error, and a hit batter to load the bases. The WolfPack found the breakthrough on an RBI single, but a baserunning error cost them the second out. Still, they struck for the lead on a single to left that scored a run to make it 2-1, Madison, after two.
 
Madison got another in the third, using a sac fly to deep center to score a run and push it to 3-1, WolfPack. The Falcons got those runs back in the top of the fourth, scoring a pair on a two-out RBI single from Brown to make it 3-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth.
 
Lackawanna brought on Zach Ruffing (Marlborough, MA) to pitch the fourth, and Ruffing worked around three walks and a hit batter to get a double play and then a ground out to strand the bases loaded. That set up Lepage in the top of the fifth, as he launched an opposite field liner to left that cleared the wall and landed just in front of the train tracks beyond the brick outfield wall.
 
Madison tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of three errors on the infield from Lackawanna to scored with two outs, but pitcher Jay Creighton (Somers, NY) kept the damage to a minimum, setting up the Falcons for a big top of the sixth, where Mark Zuppo (Garnet Valley, PA) drew a leadoff walk, made it to second on a sac bunt, then came home on a single from Kelleher to make it 5-4, Falcons. A new pitcher came on for Madison, and Brown welcomed him rudely with a double down the right field line to score Kelleher. However, Brown came up grabbing his leg at second, and Dalton was picked to sub in for him. The Falcons couldn't do anything else in the sixth, taking the 6-4 lead into the bottom half.
 
Creighton got around a leadoff single thanks to a strikeout and a batter's interference call, but the WolfPack got two more baserunners before he induced a fielder's choice to get to the seventh inning.
 
In the seventh, Lackawanna hit into a double play to waste a leadoff single from Lepage, but back-to-back singles from Zuppo and Nick Matson (Nanticoke, PA), plus a walk, loaded the bases with two down and the top of the order due up. In what would prove to be a pivotal at-bat, Kelleher battled, but ultimately hit a sharp grounder to first that was scooped up and run to the bag for the third out, stranding the bases loaded and setting up the comeback in the next half inning from Madison.
 
Lackawanna College will now wait until Monday, May 26^th, to play its elimination contest. The Falcons will face the loser of top-seed Pasco Hernando State College and either #8 Frederick CC or #9 Iowa Central CC. That elimination game will be at 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT) at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid.