ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The University of Scranton baseball team (9-3-1, 1-2 Landmark) split a doubleheader with the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (6-10, 2-1 Landmark) to close out the opening series of Landmark Conference play on Sunday afternoon at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium in Elizabethtown.

The Royals took game one by a score of 7-5, while ETown bounced back with an 11-3 victory in the nightcap.

Game One

Senior left-hander Ryan Heiser (New Milford, N.J./Saint Joseph Regional) worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth inning and the Royals held on for a 7-5 victory in Sunday's game one.

Protecting a 7-5 lead, Heiser got pinch-hitter Eamon McCoubrey to ground into a fielder's choice with the bases full of Blue Jays and two outs in the ninth. Heiser got the final six outs of the contest to notch his second save of the season.

The Royals got on the board first with a run in the second inning as graduate student Kevin Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an RBI single from senior Dan Crossan (Media, Pa./Archbishop Carroll). In the top of the fourth, junior George Jenkins (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) knocked in Johnson with an RBI double and classmate Braden Breithaupt (Canadensis, Pa./Stroudsburg) followed with an RBI single that opened up a 3-0 lead at the time.

Nicholas Ortega was dealt the loss for the Blue Jays after giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits to go along with a walk and five strikeouts in 4 1/3 IP.

Scranton tacked on three runs in the sixth against the ETown bullpen to stretch the lead to 7-1 as junior Nick Reposa (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) came through with an RBI double, sophomore Corey Zientek (Sugarloaf, Pa./Hazleton Area) plated a run with an RBI single and graduate student Connor Harding (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) added an RBI groundout.

Junior right-hander Daniel Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Immaculata) notched the win for the Royals to improve to 3-0 on the year after giving up one run on six hits while walking two and fanning four in six strong innings.

ETown was able to battle back with a four-run seventh inning that sliced the lead to 7-5, but sophomore right-hander George Sengos (Washington Twp., N.J./Westwood Regional) got Justin Wetzel looking at strike three to end the inning.

Four different players notched multi-hit games in the win for the Royals: Breithaupt (3-4, 2B, RBI, R), Crossan (2-5, RBI), Harding (2-5, RBI, 2 SB, R) and Jenkins (2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 R).

Game Two

Five errors proved costly as the Royals dropped an 11-3 decision in the nightcap on Sunday.

ETown scored in each of the first five innings to take control of the game with two runs in the first, solo runs in the second and third inning, three in the fourth and one in the fifth. The Blue Jays led 8-0 after five innings.

Senior right-hander Josh Lydon (Shavertown, Pa./Dallas) was dealt the loss for the Royals after allowing seven runs (two earned) on six hits to go along with a walk and a strikeout in three plus innings.

For ETown, Kyle Mulville registered the win as he scattered four hits while fanning three over five scoreless innings.

Scranton got on the board with a run in the sixth as Johnson singled, advanced to second on a walk, took third on a single and scored when Reposa was hit by a pitch. The Royals added two more runs in the ninth on junior Anthony Tramonte's (Mineola, N.Y./Chaminade) RBI single and a sac fly from sophomore Matthew Querey (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum).

Sophomore lefty Mike Fox (Westfield, N.J./Union Catholic) and senior right-hander Luke Hoey (Southampton, N.J./Seneca) both had scoreless outings in relief for the Royals, while fellow senior Jake Lisicky (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) was 2-5 on the day and had a multi-hit game.

The University of Scranton baseball team returns home to host Ithaca on Wednesday afternoon with first pitch at Volpe Field slated for 4:30 p.m.

--ROYALS--