YORK, PA – The York College baseball squad scored four runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to register a walk-off 9-8 win over #17 Misericordia on a sun splashed Tuesday afternoon in York.
The Spartans, who are now 3-1 against ranked teams this year, scored all six of their last runs with two outs as they rallied after being down 8-3 heading into the eighth inning.
The Spartans improve to 6-1 as they have won five straight. The Cougars fall to 7-6 overall.
 
Runs: York 9 - #17 Misericordia
Hits: York 13; Misericordia 11
Errors: York 1; Misericordia 0
LOB: York 5; Misericordia 8
WP: Ethan Kennedy (1-0); LP: Aidan Paduck (0-1)
 
How It Happened
• The Cougars opened the scoring in the second as Joe Comins drew a one out walk. Connor Maryniak singled through the left side and Gabe Bunn loaded the bases with a second walk in the inning. Brooks Kanwisher singled through the left side to score two and give Misericordia  the early lead.
• York wasted little time in tying the game as Michael Tinneny doubled to right with one out. After pop out, Chris Betler ripped a line drive home run to left, tying the game at two.
• The Cougars broke the game open in the third as they exploded for five runs on four hits. They also drew a pair of walks that aided in the big inning. Comins had a two-run triple while Bunn had an RBI single to make it 5-2. Misericordia closed out the frame with a two-run single from Owen Cordner.
• Comins drove in the Cougars' eighth run in the fourth as he ripped an RBI double to center to make it 8-2. While the Misericordia offense was clicking, Cougar starter Bryan Henry was cruising through the Spartan lineup. Henry just the two runs over the first five innings of his outing. York finally reached him for a third run in the sixth as Tinneny doubled in Robby Elzinga, cutting their deficit to five with three innings to play.
• The Spartan bullpen got a big lift by freshman Dillon Michaloski as he came into the game in the sixth. He got into a jam right away as he gave up a softly hit single followed by a double down the line by catcher Brock Bollinger as the Cougars had runners at second and third with nobody out. With the infield drawn in, Michaloski got a ground out to short and a line out to first followed by a fly out to center as he escaped damage, which proved to be huge later in the game.
• Michaloski turned it over to senior closer Ethan Kennedy in the top of the eighth and the right-hander was outstanding. Kennedy allowed a harmless two-out single in the eighth, setting the stage for the start of the Spartan comeback in the bottom of the inning.
• The bottom of the eighth did not get off to an encouraging start as reliever Justin Calvarese struck out the first two Spartans in the frame. Andrew Santarpia singled through the left side after falling behind the in the count 0-2. Tinneny also fell behind early in the count before drawing a walk to put Spartans at first and second. Connor Pickle then came up big with a single to center to keep the inning alive. Betler then belted a grand slam deep over the right field wall, slicing the Spartan deficit to one.
• Kennedy mowed the Cougars down in order in the ninth to give the Spartan offense a chance to win it in the bottom of the frame. Again, the inning did not start out well as the Cougars got two quick outs as they looked ready to close out the game. Elzinga had a fabulous at-bat as he was down to his last strike before ripping a double to right field to put the tying run in scoring position. Santarpia quickly fell behind in his at-bat, 0-2, before fighting some pitches off to level the count at 2-2. Santarpia proceeded to tie the game at eight with a single to left, scoring Elzinga with York's eighth run. Chris Nesensohn was brought in to pinch run and that proved to be a key to victory as Nesensohn scored from first on Tinneny's game-winning double to right, ending the game with York's second last at-bat victory of the year.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Michael Tinneny: 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 3 2B
Chris Betler: 2-for-4, 2 runs, 6 RBI, 2 HR
Brett DeWees: 3-for-4, 2B
Robby Elzinga: 2-for-4, 2 runs, BB, 2B
Andrew Santarpia: 2-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI
 
Spartan Pitching
Bryce Shaffer: 2.1 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 5 ER, 2 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP
Owen Brockner: 2.2 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 ER, 2 BB
Dillon Michaloski: 2.0 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB
Ethan Kennedy: 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs (Win, 1-0)
 
Spartan Notes
York is now 1-2 all-time against the Cougars … Misericordia had swept a doubleheader from the Green and White on May 22, 2021 before the Spartans headed to the NCAA Tournament in Minnesota … the Spartans scored all nine runs with two outs in the victory … York improves to 3-0 at home … York had another seven extra base hits in the win as they now have 27 doubles, five triples and six home runs for the year … York has hit five of their seven home runs in the last three games … York walked just two times in the game, tying a season low … the Spartan pitching staff walked six more hitters as they have now walked 32 in 56 innings while they have just 24 strikeouts … York has scored 11 of their 80 runs in the ninth inning this year … York has been great late as they out-scored their opponents 24-4 in the final three innings of games this year … York is now 6-0 when out-hitting their opponent … the Spartans are hitting .425 (37-for-87) with two outs while they are hitting .472 (50-for-106) with runners in scoring position … York has 35 two-out RBI … after Michael Tinneny had two home runs in the Sunday win over St. Mary's, Chris Betler had a pair of blasts in Tuesday win … Betler had a career-high six RBI with his two run shot and his grand slam … Betler now has nine career RBI … Betler is 4-for-6 with six runs scored and eight RBI in his last two games … Tinneny has hit with power this year as nine of his 12 hits are for extra bases as he has six doubles, one triple and two home runs … Tinneny is 8-for-10 with eight runs, seven RBI, four doubles and two home runs in his last three games … senior catcher Brett DeWees has been on fire for York as he is hitting .556 (10-for-18) with two doubles and a home run … he tied his career-high with three hits in the game … DeWees also threw out three Cougar base runners in the game … Dillon Michaloski has given York a great effort out of the pen as he has tossed 5.2 scoreless innings in his three outings in his first collegiate action.
 
Up Next
The Spartans open up conference play on Friday afternoon when they head to Reading, PA to take on the Albright Lions. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm. York then hosts the Lions in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12:00 pm at Jaquet Field.