ST. DAVID'S, PA – The York College baseball team split a Friday MAC Commonwealth doubleheader at Eastern University in St. David's, PA. The Spartans earned a 5-4 win in eight innings in the opener while the Eagles won the rubber match in game three, earning a 4-3, seven inning victory in the nightcap.
The Spartans have now lost three of their last four as they are 10-4 overall and 4-2 in the Commonwealth. The Eagles improve to 10-8 overall and are also 4-2 in the league.
 
Game One
Runs: #25 York 5 – Eastern 4
Hits: York 6; Eastern 9
Errors: York 1; Eastern 2
LOB: York 6; Eastern 9
WP: Ethan Kennedy (2-0); LP: John Westfield (0-1)
 
How It Happened
• The game was scoreless heading into the top of the third. Brett DeWees kicked off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Luke Moser sacrificed him to second and then DeWees moved to third on a Lucas Prendergast ground out to first. DeWees scored on a Gabe Trevena infield single to short for the 1-0 Spartan lead.
• The Eagles tied the game in the top of the fourth against Spartan starter Evan Hughes as Luke Meehan had an RBI single to left, scoring Evan Barks with the tying run.
• Things got crazy in the fifth with both teams plating three runs each. Chris Betler began the York rally with a single to center. DeWees doubled down the third base line to move Betler to third. Betler scored on a Moser sacrifice fly and DeWees touched the plate after a Prendergast single to right. Prendergast stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an Andrew Santarpia single up the middle.
• The Eagles answered quickly as Thomas Kozlusky was hit by pitch opened the inning. After a line out, Barks singled to left, moving Kozlusky to third. After a Spartan pitching change, Justin DiCesare single to center, scoring Kozlusky and moving Barks to third. A pinch runner stole second to put Eagles at second and third with one out. An infield single scored the second run of the inning and Meehan came through again with the game-tying single to left, knotting the score at four.
• Both teams went quietly in the sixth and seventh innings as the game headed to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Santarpia drew a lead off walk. Dawson Shelley pinch ran for Santarpia and moved to second as Michael Tinneny laid down a sacrifice bunt. After a foul out, Shelley scored on a wild pitch to give York the 5-4 lead. He would have scored later in the inning as Betler had a single before the end of the inning. Closer Ethan Kennedy set the Eagles down in order in the eighth to earn his second win of the year.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Chris Betler 2-for-4, 1 run
Lucas Prendergast: 1-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI
Gabe Trevena: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, BB
Andrew Santarpia: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, BB
Brett DeWees: 1-for-3, 2 runs
 
Spartan Pitching
Evan Hughes: 4.1 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 ER, 1 K, 1 BB, 2 HB
Ethan Kennedy: 3.2 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 IBB (Win, 2-0)
 
Game Two
Runs: #25 York 3 – Eastern 4
Hits: York 6; Eastern 8
Errors: York 1; Eastern 1
LOB: York 8; Eastern 7
WP: Dylan Labukas (2-1); LP: Bryce Shaffer (1-1)
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans got off to a great start in the top of the first. Lucas Prendergast got hit by a pitch to lead off the game. He was forced out at second on a Gabe Trevena fielder's choice. Trevena stole second and moved to third on a booming double from Robby Elzinga. Andrew Santarpia then delivered Trevena and Elzinga with a double to left, making it 2-0 York. Eastern starter Gavin Mikulski got out of the jam without any further damage as he got a fly out and a strikeout.
• The Eagles sliced the Spartan lead in half with a Luke Meehan solo homer to left in the bottom of the second. York got that run back in the top of the fourth as Chris Betler ripped a solo bomb to center for his sixth home run of the year for the 3-1 Spartan lead.
• York had a chance in to tack on to the lead in the sixth as Michael Tinneny singled up the middle to lead off the inning. Dawson Shelley delivered a pinch hit to put runners at first and second with no-one out. Unfortunately for York, Eagle reliever Dylan Labukas struck out the side and York would not be able to tack on, which proved to be huge in the bottom of the frame.
• Eastern finally reached Spartan starter Bryce Shaffer in the bottom of the inning after the right-hander threw five strong innings. A ground out to short was followed by a Garrett Friend single to right. Meehan then continued his big day with a two-run home to left center, tying the game at three. Griffin Falcon restarted the rally as he singled to center with one out. He stole second and and moved to third on a ground out to second. He came around to score the winning run on a Connor Shilling single to center.
• The Spartans got the tying run into scoring position with one out in the top of the seventh but a pop out and a ground out ended the Spartan threat.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Robby Elzinga: 2-for-4, 1 run
Andrew Santarpia: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B
Michael Tinneny: 1-for-4
Dawson Shelley: 1-for-1
Chris Betler: 1-for-2, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR, BB
 
Spartan Pitching
Bryce Shaffer: 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 ER, 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HB (Loss, 1-1)
Dillon Michaloski: 0.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 BB
 
Spartan Notes
York is now 13-7 all-time against the Eagles including a 7-7 mark as MAC Commonwealth opponents … the Eagles took 2-of-3 in the series, the first series loss of the year for the Spartans … the Spartan offense has scuffled over their last five games as they are hitting .239 (37-for-155) as they are averaging just 4.0 runs per game over that stretch, a stretch in which they are 2-3 … the Spartans were hitting .390 (133-for-341) over their first nine games as they started the season 9-1 … York has had just one at-bat with the bases loaded over the last five games after going 14-for-27 with the sacks jacked in the first nine games … the Spartans began the year hitting .460 with runners in scoring position but that has dipped to just .229 over the last five contests … York registered 48 two-out RBI in the first nine contests and that number is just six over the last five … the Spartans had just three extra base hits in the two games on Friday with two doubles and Chris Betler's team-leading sixth home run of the year … the Spartans struck out a season-high tying eight times in game two … York committed one error in each of the last three games and have 10 miscues in the last eight games … the Spartans swiped three bags in the two contests … York pitching struck out 11 and walked four in the two games and allowed just three extra base hits … closer Ethan Kennedy allowed his first run of the year in 11.1 innings of work in game one before hit got the win … Connor Pickle had his team-high 12 game reaching base streak snapped in game one … Gabe Trevena is the current leader in active reaching base safely streak at seven games … after failing to get a hit in game 11 at Penn State Harrisburg, Chris Betler has a hit in the last three games … Betler now has at least one hit in 13 of York's 14 games … Betler leads the squad with nine multi-hit games … Betler now has a career-high 24 RBI, eclipsing his 23 RBI in 2023 which came in 34 games …  Robby Elzinga added two hits to his career total as he is now at 149 hits for the Green and White in his stellar career … Kennedy is now 7-2 in his Spartan career … Andrew Santarpia picked up his 100^th career hit in game two as he is now 100-for-318 (.314) in his career.
 
Up Next
The Spartans return to Jaquet Field on Sunday afternoon for a non-conference make-up game against Franklin & Marshall College. First pitch from Jaquet Field is set for 2:00 pm.