SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton baseball team (28-9-1, 14-4 Landmark) used a pair of four-run innings to roll past the Moravian Greyhounds (22-18, 8-10 Landmark) in a 10-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Volpe Field in Scranton.
With the victory, the Royals clinched the No. 1 seed in next weekend's Landmark Conference Tournament for the second straight year and third time since 2015.
Moravian plated two runs in the first and added a run in the second to take an early 3-0 lead, but the Royals got on the board in the home half of the inning as graduate student Kevin Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a single and scored on senior Dan Crossan's (Media, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1.
Scranton scored four runs apiece in both the third and fourth innings to break the game open with a 9-3 advantage. A two-run double from senior Tyler Kirsten (Wallenpaupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) knotted things at three before Johnson and senior Jake Lisicky (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) both knocked in runs later in the frame. In the fourth inning, sophomore Corey Zientek (Sugarloaf, Pa./Hazleton Area) hit a two-run blast, while graduate student Connor Harding (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) knocked in a run with an RBI double and Lisicky added an RBI double of his own.
Kirsten broke the program's single-season RBI record with his two-run double in the third inning and has driven in 58 runs this season, surpassing the previous record of 56 that was set by Chris Bligh on two occasions in 2008 and 2010.
Harding struck again with an RBI double in the fifth inning for a 10-3 lead.
Sophomore lefty Matthew Moreira (Union, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) allowed three hits and fanned one over four scoreless innings to register the win in relief for the Royals. Junior right-hander Daniel Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Immaculata) followed Moreira with three strikeouts over two shutout frames and a pair of seniors: righty Josh Lydon (Shavertown, Pa./Dallas) and lefty Ryan Heiser (New Milford, N.J./Saint Joseph Regional) combined to fire a scoreless ninth.
Eddie Olsen surrendered eight runs on eight hits while fanning three in 3 1/3 IP and took the loss for the Greyhounds.
Junior right-hander Hunter Ralston (Duryea, Pa./Pittston Area) gave up two runs on two hits and fanned a pair in an inning of work in a no-decision for Scranton.
Crossan (2-3, RBI), Harding (3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R) and Lisicky (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) all registered multi-hit games in the victory for the Royals.
Prior to the game, the team honored the senior class of Crossan, Harding, Heiser, Johnson, Lisicky, Lydon, Kirsten, Mason Boettger (Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge), Drew Brodine (Hopewell, N.J./Hopewell Valley), Conner DiAngelo (East Granby, Conn./Northwest Catholic), James Gadue (West Hartford, Conn./Hall), Luke Hoey (Southampton, N.J./Seneca) and Tanner Kohler (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal).
The Royals will host Franklin & Marshall to close out the regular season on Tuesday night at Volpe Field with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.
--ROYALS--