SCRANTON, Pa. – Junior right-hander Daniel Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Immaculata) tossed 5 2/3 scoreless IP and senior Tyler Kirsten (Wallenpaupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) drove in three runs as The University of Scranton baseball team (20-6-1, 7-3 Landmark) captured a 6-0 decision in game two to salvage a split of the doubleheader with the Susquehanna River Hawks (11-16, 6-4 Landmark) on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Volpe Field in Scranton.

Susquehanna won game one by a score of 5-1 before the Royals' 6-0 victory in game two. The nightcap was called with two outs in the top of the sixth due to rain.

Game One

The River Hawks' Dillan Weikel allowed just one run on three hits over 7 2/3 IP as the Royals dropped a 5-1 decision in game one.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth when Susquehanna got on the board with an RBI single. A three-run blast from Evan Knapp in the top of the sixth extended the lead to 4-0.

Susquehanna added a run in the top of the seventh, but the Royals answered with a run in the home half as junior Nick Reposa (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) led off with a single, advanced to third on a double and scored on Kirsten's sac fly to cut the lead to 5-1.

Junior right-hander Hunter Ralston (Duryea, Pa./Pittston Area) gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits to go along with a walk and four strikeouts in six innings of work and was dealt the loss for Scranton.

In relief of Ralston, fellow junior righty Liam Fitzgerald (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) retired all five batters he faced with one strikeout.

Game Two

Johnson scattered just four hits and fanned seven over his 5 2/3 IP en route to the Royals' 6-0 victory in the nightcap.

With the win, Johnson improves to 6-1 on the year and the six wins are tied for the second most in a single season in program history.

The Royals loaded the bases with three straight singles in the home half of the first and Kirsten cleared them with a three-run triple into the left centerfield gap for an early 3-0 advantage. Senior Jake Lisicky (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) followed with a sac fly to plate Kirsten.

Kirsten has 44 RBI on the year, which is tops in the Landmark Conference and ranks in the Top 10 nationally. The 44 RBI are also tied for the fourth most in a single season in Scranton history.

In the home half of the fourth, graduate student Kevin Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) led off with a double and scored on an RBI single from senior Dan Crossan (Media, Pa./Archbishop Carroll). Crossan later came around to score on a sac fly from junior Braden Breithaupt (Canadensis, Pa./Stroudsburg) to give the Royals a 6-0 lead.

Teagan Duffie was tagged with the loss for the River Hawks after allowing five runs on six hits in three plus innings.

Kirsten (2-3, 3B, 3 RBI, R) and graduate student Connor Harding (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) who was 2-3 with a double and a run scored both tallied multi-hit games for head coach Mike Bartoletti's team.

The two teams will wrap up the series on Monday evening with first pitch of the rubber game at Volpe Field slated for 5:30 p.m.

--ROYALS--