SALISBURY, MD – The York College baseball squad erupted for 15 runs as the Spartans downed the St. Mary's College Seahawks 15-5 in a Capital Athletic Conference Tournament elimination game in Salisbury, MD.
The Spartans advance to Saturday's third round as York improves to 17-16 with the win. The Seahawks fall to 13-23 overall with the loss.
The Spartans wasted little time in getting to St. Mary's starter Wick Eisenberg in the bottom of the first. Andrew Hershey (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) opened the frame with a double to right center. After a strikeout, Colbe Herr (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) lashed a single through the left side to score Hershey with the game's first run. Eisenberg got a line out to second for the second out but the Spartans banged out three straight hits with the third being a two-run single from Colin Porter (Hanover, Pa./South Western) as the Green and White took a 4-0 lead.
The Spartans added another four runs in the third. The big blow in the frame as Nic Long (North Wildwood, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) stroked a three-run double to left. Long would come around to score on a Hershey RBI single.
The Seahawks cut into the Spartan lead with a five-run fifth inning. Zach Nadolny had the big hit in the inning with a three-run homer for the Hawks.
York put the game out of reach in the seventh with a six run inning. The Seahawks aided in the Spartan uprising with a pair of errors in the frame. The Spartans closed out the scoring on a Dustin Worthman (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
Hershey led the Spartan offense with a career-high four hits while he also had two RBI and two runs scored. Porter added three hits, two RBI and two runs scored while Long was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Worthman, Justin Cohen (Severn, Md./Old Mill), and Drew Frankenfield (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) also had two hits to the 18-hit Spartan attack. The 15 runs and 18 hits were season-highs for the Spartans and it was the 12th time this year that York had double digit hits in a game.
Corey Napier and Michael O'Neill each had two hits for the Seahawks while Nadolny was 1-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.
Josh Miller (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) picked up the win as he tossed 6.1 innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits with a pair of strikeouts and a walk. Miller improves to 5-2 overall as he leads the Spartan pitching staff in wins. Zach Philippi (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts while Matt Goodman (Owings Mills, Md./Franklin) closed out the game as he allowed one hit with one strikeout in the ninth.
Eisenberg took the loss as he allowed eight runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings of work. He struck out two and walked one as he falls to 2-7 for the season. The Seahawk bullpen wasn't very good as the three pitchers that followed Eisenberg allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings of work.
The Spartans advance to Saturday's portion of the tournament. The game is slated for a 12:30 pm and the opponent will be determined by the results of the remainder of the games slated for Friday.