ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley baseball team finished off the season sweep of Eastern University on Saturday with 21 runs in a pair of victories over the Eagles at McGill Field. The Dutchmen won game one 13-6 and then used a six-run fifth to take the nightcap 8-5.

Game 1

The Dutchmen (6-8-1, 2-0 MAC Commonwealth) got the bats started early as Nico Santoro led off the bottom of the first with a double to left. He stole third before Andrew Miles knocked him in with a single to left. Two batters later it was 3-0 as Shane Stossel hit another no-doubt home run to left field. LVC tacked on another run in the second as Miles hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Ryan Murphy. The Eagles got on the board with a run in the third after a leadoff double. Duncan Weir knocked in Conor Smith in the bottom of the inning to give LVC a four-run advantage.

Eastern scored another run in the fourth before LVC used a big six-run bottom half of the inning to put the game out of reach. Justin Ranker led off the inning with his second home run of the weekend with a shot to left center. Murphy and Santoro singled before Miles, Jace Fetterman, and Stossel drew walks to make it 8-2 and force a call to the bullpen. Smith was hit by a pitch and then Weir knocked in a run with a grounder to second. Two batters later, ranked had his second RBI of the inning with a sacrifice fly. The Eagles scored three runs on two hits in the fifth and LVC responded with two runs in the bottom half. Smith tripled to right center to score Fetterman from first and then Owen Berry knocked in Smith with an infield single to first.

Inside the Box Score

• The Dutchmen had 11 hits in the game with eight different batters recording a hit. LVC also drew 10 walks and stole a season-high seven bases
• Santoro had three of the hits and scored twice.
• Stossel blasted his second home run of the weekend and had two hits, three RBI, and two runs scored with two walks.
• He also got the win on the mound with 10 strikeouts in five innings of work.
• Miles and Smith knocked in two runs and scored twice apiece.
• Ranker hit a home run in the second consecutive game and had two RBI.
• Weir knocked in two runs.
• Murphy walked three times and scored twice.
• Jeremy Tuz and Brendan Landry each threw an inning in relief of Stossel.

 Game 2

Similar to the opener, LVC (7-8-1, 3-0 MAC Commonwealth) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning. Fetterman and Stossel got on base with two outs for Smith who knocked in both runs with a big single up the middle. Neither team was able to muster up much offense until the fourth when Eastern began the inning with back-to-back doubles and a single to tie the game up. The Eagles threatened to take the lead in the fifth as they loaded the bases, but Jacob Detwiler entered the game on the mound for Andrew Spaan with two outs and forced an easy fly ball to center.

LVC batted around for the second time on the day with six runs in the bottom of the fifth on five hits. Dave Mangold drew a leadoff walk and then Santoro and Miles singled to load the bases. Stossel drove in a pair of runs with a single to left. Smith then drove in another two runs with a single up the middle with the Eagles infielders playing for a play at home. After Weir hit a double to right and Luke Blair walked to load the bases Murphy knocked in a run on a ball to shortstop. Logan Fuga hit a sacrifice fly to right to score the final run of the inning. The Eagles rallied in the seventh with three runs but Tony Bennage relieved Detwiler and shut the door with a pair of ground outs to Santoro to complete the sweep.

Inside the Box Score

• Santoro extended his hitting streak to an impressive 16 games to begin the season.
• Smith had two hits and drove in four runs.
• Miles, Fetterman, Stossel, Weir, Blair, and Mangold all had a hit each.
• Stossel scored twice and was hit by two pitches.
• Spaan struck out seven in 4.1 innings of work including six strikeouts in the first two innings.
• Detwiler earned the win on the mound with 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out four and allowed two hits.
• Bennage picked up the save getting the final two outs of the game.

Up Next

The Dutchmen will be on the road to face 2022 NCAA Tournament participant Immaculata University on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Immaculata.

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