SCRANTON, Pa. – A five-run fourth broke the game open and The No. 3 seed University of Scranton baseball team (30-11) captured its second Landmark Conference title in the last four seasons with a 9-2 victory over the top-seeded Elizabethtown Blue Jays (31-12) on Sunday at Volpe Field in Scranton.
Scranton has earned the Landmark Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will make the second NCAA appearance in program history. The Field of 60 will be announced in a live selection show on NCAA.com on Monday afternoon at 12 p.m.
Junior Jake Elston (New Milford, Conn./Canterbury School) earned Tournament MVP honors for the Royals after going 6-10 in three games on the weekend with a double, home run, seven RBI and seven runs scored.
The Royals previously won the Landmark in 2021 and also defeated Elizabethtown in that championship game.
2024 marks the first 30-win season in program history for Scranton.
On Sunday, Elston reached with a one-out bunt single in the first inning and scored from first on sophomore Conor Campbell's (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) RBI double. Fellow sophomore Vincent Napolitano (Merrick, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) added an RBI single later in the inning to make it a 2-0 game.
Elston added an RBI double in the second inning that made it an early 3-0 edge.
ETown got a run back in the fourth and had the bases loaded with two away when freshman righty Matt Holgado (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) got RJ Agriss to fly to left and end the inning. Scranton then immediately took advantage of escaping the jam and scored five in the home half including an RBI single from Elston, a two-run single from Campbell, a sac fly by Napolitano and an RBI double from senior Jack Heineman (Abington, Pa./LaSalle College).
Holgado gave up a run on six hits and walked three while fanning two over four innings of work in a no-decision. Senior lefty Matt Roda (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) allowed a run on one hit and struck out one in 1 1/3 IP to earn the win in relief, while fellow senior lefty Mike Fox (Westfield, N.J./Union Catholic) scattered one hit and struck out a pair over 3 2/3 IP of scoreless work to notch the save.
Fox entered the game with the bases loaded and one away in the top of the sixth and got Riley Thomas to ground into a 6-4-3 double play which kept the lead at 9-2.
Kyle Mulville took the loss for the Blue Jays after allowing six runs on nine hits to go along with a walk and three strikeouts in three plus innings.
Elston (3-3, 2B, 2 RBI, SB, 2 R) and Heineman (3-5, RBI, SB) had three hits apiece for the Royals, while Campbell (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R) and senior Matthew Querey (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) who had two hits and three runs scored both added multi-hit games.
Stay tuned to athletics.scranton.edu and the RoyalAthletics social media accounts as the NCAA Tournament field is unveiled on Monday afternoon.