Elizabethtown takes two from Immaculata

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FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Elizabethtown rallied late in both halves of Monday's doubleheader, sweeping Immaculata by scores of 8-4 and 9-8.

GAME 1
E-town Lineup
1. Fackler 2b, 2. Holbert cf, 3. Weary lf, 4. Gatti 1b, 5. Schamp rf, 6. Smith dh, 7. Ragozzino c, 8. Lorenz 3b, 9. Shirk ss, SP Sollenberger

Immaculata Lineup
1. McCormick 2b, 2. DiDomenico cf, 3. R. Ficca ss, 4. Kalamets rf, 5. Lascomb 1b, 6. Kerns dh, 7. D. Ficca c, 8. Richards lf, 9. Misialek 3b, SP Campisano

Immaculata held a pair of leads, but came unraveled in the sixth when Chris Goggin couldn't find his command, leading to three hit batters and four crucial runs for the Blue Jays (3-1).

Nick Lorenz and Kyle Fackler occupied first and second after being plunked, before Alex Holbert stepped up and tied the game at four with an RBI single to right. Two batters later, Luke Gatti hit a sacrifice fly to give E-town the lead.

Ryan Schamp launched a run-scoring double and Tyler Weary scored on an error by Goggin before the inning was over. All nine E-town batters came to the plate in the fifth.

Elizabethtown got an insurance run in the seventh when Lorenz led off with a two-bagger and Fackler drove him in with his fourth double of the young season, tying him with Weary for the team lead.

Josh Sollenberger pitched five innings to earn the win for the Jays. He gave up four unearned runs on seven hits and did not walk a batter. Sollenberger struck out four. Sean Jones collected the final six outs for his first save.

The heart of the Blue Jays' order was just that, as the 3-4-5 combo of Weary, Gatti and Schamp went 6-for-12 with two hits each. Fackler had two knocks of his own and Weary scored three times.

GAME 2
Immaculata Lineup
1. McCormick lf, 2. DiDomenico cf, 3. Wallace 3b, 4. Lascomb 1b, 5. Kalamets rf, 6. R. Ficca ss, 7. Tecco c, 8. Lawson dh, 9. Devenney 2b, SP Sassaman

E-town Lineup
1. Holbert cf, 2. Smith dh, 3. Weary 2b, 4. Gatti 1b, 5. Schamp rf, 6. Portillo lf, 7. Lorenz 3b, 8. Canuso c, 9. Shirk ss, SP Gulla

Down 6-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth, Elizabethtown scored eight unanswered runs over the next three innings and then held off the Mighty Macs (2-2) in the top of the seventh, turning to Taras Letnaunchyn to shut the door.

Schamp led off the fourth with an eight-pitch at-bat that resulted in a walk, before the Blue Jays' double machine got cranking again. Dylan Manning hit one to score Schamp and Shirk later knocked in Manning via the double.

With three more doubles in game two, E-town has hit 19 through its first four games, nearly one-third of the 63 they hit as a team in 2014.

Elizabethtown turned a 6-3 deficit into a 7-6 lead with four more runs in the fifth. Five straight runners reached base. Manning (single) and Lorenz (bases loaded walk) both brought in runs before Frank Canuso's two-run single gave the Jays a lead.

Canuso smacked another two-run single in the sixth, providing Elizabethtown a three-run cushion it would need.

Jones was given the ball in the seventh to try and lock down his second save of the day, but Immaculata loaded the bases and Ryan Ficca drew a walk to trim E-town's lead to 9-7.

Letnaunchyn got Ryan Tecco to hit into a fielder's choice for the second out, though another run came across. With the tying run 90 feet away, the Blue Jay senior forced Matt Lawson to ground out to Weary to end the game.

Nick Gulla earned his first win of the year with five hits and six runs (one earned) allowed over six innings. Tyler Sassaman was tagged for seven earned runs on nine hits in just over four innings as he took the loss for IU.

Manning, inserted into left field at the start of the fourth inning, finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and two RBIs. Canuso drove in four runs while going 2-for-4.

Elizabethtown doubled up Immaculata in the hit department, 14-7, and finished the day with 25 hits between the two games. The only negative from E-town's perspective was three errors in each game. Of the 20 runs scored against the Jays in Florida, only 11 have been earned.

No Immaculata batter had more than one hit, but Lawson finished with a pair of RBIs.

NEXT UP
The Blue Jays and Wilkes play an afternoon doubleheader Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

 

Frank Canuso vs. Widener 4/18/14