SCRANTON, Pa. – It had been more than five years since Elizabethtown College baseball's last grand slam, so Brian Portillo and Colby Smith made up for lost time by smacking two in the same game Saturday to help the Blue Jays split at Scranton with a 15-2 win in game two. The Royals came from behind to steal game one, 11-8.

Game 1: Scranton 11, Elizabethtown 8
Connell Park served as a launching pad on a blustery and chilly afternoon.

Elizabethtown opened the scoring with Smith's RBI groundout in the top of the first. Scranton would quickly tie it in its first at-bats, but Aaron Rahn went yard and Nick Lorenz doubled in Frank Ragozzino to put the Blue Jays back in front 3-1 in the top of the second.

Starting pitchers Sean Jones (E-town) and Michael Haag (Scranton) were shown no mercy by the offenses. Neither lasted five innings with Jones giving up eight runs on nine hits in 4.1 and Haag surrendering seven runs on six hits in 3.2 innings.

Surprisingly, neither factored into the decision.

Brian Healy and Patrick Mergel homered during a three-run third for the Royals to even the game at five. In fact, a zero didn't appear in the scoring column of any inning until Jones retired the side in order in the fourth.

The Blue Jays looked to try and take control of the game in the top of the fourth when Richy Masciarelli hit an RBI double to start the scoring in a four-run, four-hit frame. Colby Smith drove home two with a single and Dylan Manning ripped an RBI single to give the visitors an 8-5 lead.

Scranton tied it with three in the fifth and took the lead for good with a matching three in the sixth. Three walks and a hit batter started E-town's unraveling in the bottom of the fifth. Two more walks led to Mergel's go-ahead, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth.

Mergel went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored for the victorious Royals. Scranton's 3-7 hitters scored all 11 runs.

Dylan Manning collected a team-high three hits for the Jays and knocked in two. Smith had three RBIs and Lorenz was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.

Tim Derner was effective in the sixth, throwing a scoreless inning to notch his first win of 2016. Anthony Caladie walked Rahn to start the seventh, but got the next three batters to earn the save. Jay Singer took the loss for E-town with three runs allowed in 1.2 innings.

Game 2: Elizabethtown 15, Scranton 2
The Blue Jays were able to end the day on a high-note on the strength of Portillo and Smith's grand slams, a 10-run fifth inning, Kyle Fackler's 100th career hit and a complete game from Kevin Elwell.

E-town (7-8, 1-1 Landmark) pieced together three straight singles to start the second inning. Portillo then stepped in against Sean McNamara and smacked his first career homer and granny to left field.

Fackler, a .352 career hitter, followed with a single back through the box three batters later for hit No. 100. The junior second baseman from Harrisburg recorded half of those hits last spring, but is once again off to a hot start batting a career best .373 through 15 games.

A sacrifice fly from Lorenz extended the Blue Jays' lead to 5-0 in the fourth, but it was the fifth that put this one to bed.

Fourteen batters came to the plate and Elizabethtown enjoyed its highest scoring inning since a 10-run second against Lebanon Valley May 1, 2009. The Blue Jays had three innings of 10 runs or more in '09, the last time they won a conference championship.

Dylan Manning, Portillo, Ragozzino, Lorenz and Masciarelli all registered RBIs before Smith bashed E-town's second grand slam of the afternoon to push the lead to 15-0.

Prior to Saturday, Elizabethtown's last grand slam came off the bat of Anthony Heaps, March 9, 2011, against Misericordia. The Blue Jays had never hit multiple grand slams in a game since the College started keeping digital statistics in 2002.

Though he was just 1-for-2 before being replaced by Ryan Schamp at first base, Portillo collected a game-high five RBIs. Smith's four came with one swing of the stick. The Middlesex, N.J. native was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Elizabethtown ambushed six Scranton pitchers with 16 hits, its second most in a game this season.

Elwell quietly went about his business, bouncing back from a rough outing a week ago against Stevenson by holding the Royals (5-7, 1-1) to two runs on seven hits over seven. Elwell did not walk a batter for the third time in four starts this season and struck out two.

UP NEXT
Sunday's series finale was moved to Wednesday, March 23, at 3:30 p.m., when snow was still in the forecast for most of eastern Pennsylvania. The Blue Jays will go on the road to face Dickinson Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.