Sophomore outfielder Ray Grapsy (Covington Township, Pa./North Pocono) connected for a three-run home run to break a tie game in the bottom of the seventh inning and lift The University of Scranton baseball team to a playoff berth-clinching 10-5 victory over Catholic University on Sunday at Connell Park.
The Royals (21-17, 10-8 Landmark), who swept the weekend series from the Cardinals, will enter next weekend's Landmark Conference playoffs as the fourth seed and will face top-seeded Catholic (25-15, 11-7 Landmark) in a first-round game on Saturday, May 4, at Catholic. The playoffs are double elimination.
Grapsy's homer, his first of his career, came with two outs and two strikes, and just moments after Catholic had rallied to tie the game in the top of the inning. Scranton scored eight of its 10 runs with two outs on Sunday.
Scranton added a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth when junior third baseman Mike Trabulsi (Malverne, N.Y./Chaminade) scored on a wild pitch and sophomore first baseman Ross Danzig (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights/Blair Academy, N.J.) added an RBI single.
Sophomore righty Jimmy Sawyer (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) took care of the rest, pitching three shutout innings of relief, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out two. Sawyer has allowed just one run in his last five appearances, spanning 9 1/3 innings.
Scranton jumped ahead with two runs in the second inning on a two-out, two-run double by junior designated hitter Eric Pizzico (Royersford, Pa./Spring Ford). Catholic rallied with a run in the third and two in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, but it was short-lived.
The Royals scored three times in the bottom of the fourth, with Pizzico again in the middle of the action. His second two-out, two-run double of the game put Scranton back ahead, and Trabulsi brought him around with an RBI single to give Scranton a 5-3 lead.
Pizzico finished with two doubles, four RBIs and a run scored, and Trabulsi had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Senior shortstop Tim LeCompte (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) doubled and scored twice, and sophomore second baseman Matt Maghini (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) doubled and scored.
Senior first baseman Chris McCloud (Fairfax Station, Va./Robinson Secondary) had a two-run homer and junior third baseman Marc Hanna (Bloomfield, N.J./St. Peter's Preparatory) had three hits for Catholic.
Scranton has won all nine matchups against Catholic at Connell Park in Landmark Conference play and has taken five of six from the Cardinals over the past two years.
The Royals will complete regular season play on Tuesday, April 30, when they host Wilkes University at 5 p.m. at PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, in Moosic, Pa.
Scranton will open the Landmark Conference playoffs on Saturday, May 4, when they face Catholic at 11 a.m. in Washington, D.C. Second-seeded Merchant Marine Academy will face third-seeded Moravian at 2:30 p.m. in the other first-round game.
--ROYALS--