E-town Lineup
1. Fackler 2b, 2. Holbert cf, 3. Weary lf, 4. Gatti 1b, 5. Portillo dh, 6. Lorenz 3b, 7. Rahn rf, 8. Canuso, 9. Shirk, SP Tomasko
Merchant Marine Lineup
1. Sithong cf, 2. Wood c, 3. Barnes ss, 4. Campbell 1b, 5. De St. Germain dh, 6. Grzymkowski rf, 7. Lucy lf, 8. Foley 3b, 9. Rabbitt 2b, SP Suciu
KINGS POINT, N.Y. – The hottest team in the Landmark Conference continued its tear through league play Sunday. Elizabethtown's nine-run third inning fueled a 20-5 win at Merchant Marine and gave the Blue Jays their second straight conference series sweep.
No offense within the league has been able to match the Blue Jays' production in 2015. Elizabethtown belted out a season-high 24 hits against the Mariners and tied a season-high with eight doubles.
The Blue Jays (19-9, 10-5 Landmark) pulled to within one win of its first 20-win season since 2012 by scoring 10 or more runs for the eighth time this spring. Its 20 runs were three off its season-high.
Though E-town pulled away with 14 runs over the fourth and fifth innings, it opened the scoring in the top of the first. Kyle Fackler reached second on an error to lead off the game and later scored on Tyler Weary's RBI single to left.
Immediately after Weary made it 1-0, Luke Gatti doubled and Merchant Marine's (11-12, 6-9 Landmark) second error of the inning allowed Weary to score.
Elizabethtown sent 14 batters to the inning in the nine-run fourth and got eight hits to expand its lead to 12-0.
Brian Portillo and Nick Lorenz collected back-to-back two-run hits, with Portillo doubling to left center and Lorenz singling down the left field line.
Shortstop Ryan Shirk, who doubled home a run in the fourth, stepped into the box with two men on in the fifth and launched his first home run of the season to left for a 17-2 Elizabethtown advantage.
Shirk hammered his third extra base hit of the afternoon, another double, to lead off the seventh and Alex Holbert drove him home with another two-bagger. Colby Smith added a two-run double, E-town's eighth of the day and conference-leading 70th of the season.
Zack Tomasko earned the victory for the Blue and Gray, evening his record at 2-2. He whiffed three and gave up five runs over 5.1 innings. Nick Gulla threw 3.2 scoreless innings for his first save.
Merchant Marine starter Brad Suciu was stuck with the loss after yielding three runs on five hits in three frames. Only one run against Suciu was earned.
The Mariners may have been wise to stick with him, however, as his replacement gave up six runs in one-third of an inning and another reliever was tagged for eight runs on 10 hits in three innings.
Eight Blue Jays scored multiple runs and all nine starters recorded at least one hit. Shirk went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a walk, and Holbert had a game-high four hits in six at-bats.
Gatti was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a pair of doubles. He was later replaced by Smith, and the sophomore utility man was a perfect 3-for-3.
Francis Grzymkowski was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs for the Mariners in defeat.
Sunday's win was the 195th of coach Cliff Smith's career. The ninth-year leader can join Owen Wright (258) and John Gergic (228) as Elizabethtown coaches with 200 wins if the Blue Jays are able to win five more times this season.
It looks like a pretty good possibility, as the Jays lead the Landmark in runs (210), runs/game (7.5), hits (288), doubles (70), triples (10), RBIs (175), base on balls (120), batting average (.316), on base percentage (.414) and slugging percentage (.431).
E-town hosts Lancaster Bible in a non-conference game Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
