ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Sophomore second baseman Kyle Fackler could not have been any more clutch Thursday afternoon, hitting a walk-off RBI single to beat Scranton in game one, and topping it with a two-run walk-off double in extra innings of the nightcap, as Elizabethtown swept the Royals 4-3 and 6-5.
GAME 1
E-town Lineup: 1. Fackler 2b, 2. Holbert cf, 3. Weary lf, 4. Gatti 1b, 5. Jones dh, 6. Lorenz 3b, 7. Schamp rf, 8. Ragozzino c, 9. Kibler ss, SP Gulla
Scranton Lineup: 1. Trotter cf, 2. O'Dell ss, 3. Dignam rf, 4. Danzig 1b, 5. Healy lf, 6. Umerich dh, 7. Simone 2b, 8. Raszka 3b, 9. Gulius c, SP Markowski
Held to three hits over the first six innings, the Blue Jays came up with a pair of big ones in their last at-bats against the Royals in the opener. Pinch hitter Colby Smith was the first to face Matthew Calamoneri, who was on to close for Scranton. Smith's patience paid off when a seven-pitch at-bat turned into a leadoff walk.
Coach Cliff Smith opted to put the speedier Richy Masciarelli on and the sophomore scooted to second on a passed ball. Down a run with one out, Brian Portillo, the second pinch-hitter of the inning, slapped a ball deep to right for a triple that scored Masciarelli and tied the game at three.
Portillo's hit also set Elizabethtown up in great position to take the victory, which they did a few pitches later when Kyle Fackler ripped an 0-2 offering from Calamoneri right back up the middle to score pinch-runner Brennan Snyder.
Fackler was 2-for-3 with a walk and Luke Gatti also had two hits. Gatti, 5-for-5 in Wednesday's loss to the Royals, actually recorded hits in his first two at-bats Thursday, making him seven of his last seven. He nearly had an eighth consecutive hit to start the sixth, but a stiff wind blowing in from right field knocked down a hard hit ball for an out.
Nick Gulla struck out five, gave up six hits and three runs over five innings. Sophomore Josh Sollenberger threw two scoreless innings of relief to earn his second win of the season. Calamoneri was responsible for all the goings on in the seventh inning in taking the loss. Starter Brian Markowski also struck out five over five innings for Scranton.
GAME 2
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 c, 9. Kibler ss, SP Manning
Scranton Lineup: 1. Trotter cf, 2. O'Dell ss, 3. Dignam rf, 4. Danzig 1b, 5. Healy lf, 6. Umerich dh, 7. Simone 2b, 8. Mergel 3b, 9. Nolan c, SP Chorba
Things looked dire when Elizabethtown (13-8, 4-5 Landmark) trailed 4-1 entering the sixth, and soured again when Scranton scored on a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth to take a 5-4 lead.
The curtain was almost closed when Parke Martin flew out with runners on first and third to bring the Royals (7-10, 5-4 Landmark) within an out of taking the series, but Fackler was there to pull the Blue Jays through. The Central Dauphin East grad focused in on the third pitch he saw from new reliever Michael Haag and sent it over the head of right fielder Zach Dignam, scoring Nick Lorenz and Ryan Shirk with the tying and winning runs, and stunning Scranton.
E-town found itself in a 4-0 hole after the visitors scored one in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth, but climbed out largely on a three-run sixth inning that included an RBI double from Alex Holbert and an RBI triple off the bat of Tyler Weary. Weary would tie the game at five when a pitch got past Scranton catcher Kevin Nolan with one out in the inning.
Singles from Ross Danzig and Michael Umerich, along with sacrifice hits from Brian Healy and Anthony Simone allowed the Royals to retake the lead in the eighth. Simone's bunt out in front of the plate rolled far enough to score Danzig with the go-ahead run.
Needing a two-win day badly, E-town's calculated approach in the bottom of the eighth paid dividends.
Lorenz fell behind 0-2, but battled back to draw the count full against John Kranick. Kranick lost control and hit Lorenz to put the freshman on first. Aaron Rahn moved the third baseman up a bag with a sacrifice bunt to bring up pinch-hitter Parke Martin.
The hard-swinging infielder from Ephrata put a charge into Kranick's 3-2 pitch as the Blue Jay dugout got up in hopes of a walk-off round-tripper, but the wind factored in once more, keeping the ball in play by just a few feet for a long fly out. Ryan Shirk followed with a four-pitch walk, setting up Fackler's second clutch hit of the afternoon.
Sean Jones worked two-thirds of an inning and struck out one to even his record at 1-1. Dylan Manning started and gave up four runs (one earned) on six hits over 4.2 innings. Taras Letnaunchyn allowed a run and three hits in the next 2.2 innings.
Dillon Chorba limited E-town to one run over five innings, though his six walks contributed to a 117-pinch outing that put him out after five. Stephen Lee then yielded three runs (two earned) on two hits without recording an out and Kranick took the loss when the runners he was responsible for, Lorenz and Shirk, scored on Fackler's game-winning hit.
