ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The University of Scranton baseball team (8-2-1, 0-1 Landmark) brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but wound up falling just short in a 5-3 loss to the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (5-9, 1-0 Landmark) in the opener of a three-game series on Friday afternoon at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium.

Trailing 5-3, Scranton brought the tying run to the plate with a runner at first and two outs in the ninth, but the Blue Jays' Tyler Dunbar got junior Braden Breithaupt (Canadensis, Pa./Stroudsburg) to ground into a fielder's choice and wiggle his way out of trouble.

Earlier in the inning, sophomore John Zarnowski (East Brunswick, N.Y./St. Joseph's) knocked in a run with a pinch hit RBI single for the Royals.

ETown struck first with a solo run in the top of the first and the Royals answered with a run in the third as junior George Jenkins (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) reached with a one-out single, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI double from sophomore Corey Zientek (Sugarloaf, Pa./Hazleton Area). The Blue Jays took the lead for good with a pair of two-out runs in the fifth as a throwing error brought home a run and AJ Bednar added an RBI double to make it a 3-1 game.

Junior right-hander Hunter Ralston (Duryea, Pa./Pittston Area) was dealt the tough luck loss for the Royals as he gave up the three runs (one earned) on seven hits while fanning two over five strong innings.

Dunbar registered the win for ETown as he allowed three runs (two earned) on nine hits to go along with two strikeouts in a complete game effort.

Zientek reached on an error to lead off the top of the sixth and later scored on senior Tyler Kirsten's (Wallenpaupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) sac fly to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Blue Jays plated solo runs in each of the next two frames and took a 5-2 lead into the afore-mentioned ninth inning.

Jenkins (2-3, R), Zientek (2-4, 2B, RBI, R) and junior Nick Reposa (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) who was 2-2 with a run scored all had multi-hit games for Scranton, while sophomore righty George Sengos (Washingtown Twp., N.J./Westwood Regional) struck out one in a scoreless inning of relief.

The two teams will close out the conference series with a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon in Elizabethtown with first pitch of game one slated for 12 p.m.

--ROYALS--