4/24/26
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Late game collapses hurt Lackawanna College baseball on Friday afternoon, as the Falcons twice gave up late runs in a pair of losses to visiting Harford CC, 13-6 and 14-1, in non-region action at Scranton HS baseball field.
 
The Falcons (19-23-1) were in relatively close games each time with the Division I Owls (47-5), but Harford combined for 20 runs across both games in the final three innings, twice blowing open close contests.
 
Danny Stickney (Secane, PA) hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning of game one to get the Falcons within 6-4, but the wheels came off in the sixth and seventh innings, as Harford scored a combined seven runs to blow things wide open and run away for the win.
 
Stickney finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored, while both Jake Virbitsky (Media, PA) and Deacon Brown (Williamsport, PA) each scored two runs. Pitcher Nico Nattle (Phoenixville, PA) gave up four runs on four hits in four innings, striking out five and walking three batters. The Falcons stranded eight baserunners in game one.
 
Game two saw even less offense, with neither team really able to get much going until Harford exploded for a combined eleven runs in the final two innings to blow things open. Lackawanna trailed 2-0 in the third inning, but Brown tripled to get the Falcons within 2-1, but Harford added a run in the fourth to go ahead 3-1, but the scoring was quiet until the sixth inning.
 
Harford loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, then scored runs on back-to-back errors on the Falcons. A strikeout put two away, but an RBI single, back-to-back walks, and another error let four more runs score to push the Lackawanna deficit to 9-1 after 5.5 innings.
 
After Lackawanna was retired in order in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Owls added five more runs in the top half of the seventh, using a bases-loaded walk and a grand slam to get to 14-1. Lackawanna wasted back-to-back walks to lead the bottom of the seventh off, getting caught stealing and striking out twice to end the game.
 
Lackawanna was held to just three hits and struck out nine times. Brown, Hunter Austra (Larksville, PA), and Kolton Haifley (New Oxford, PA) recorded the hits, with the lone RBI going to Brown. Pitcher Makai Day (South Williamsport, PA) was hit with the loss, but pitched well, giving up three runs, just one earned, on five hits, striking out seven batters in four innings.
 
Lackawanna, on a four-game slide after winning ten-straight, will be back in action on Sunday, April 26^th, with a road doubleheader at Division III #8 Brookdale CC. First pitch is set for 12:00pm ET in Lincroft, NJ.