CHESTER, Pa. – Graduate student Connor Harding (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) notched his 200^th career hit and classmate Kevin Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) registered his 100^th career hit, but The University of Scranton baseball team (17-5-1) saw its eight game winning streak come to end as the Royals dropped both ends of a doubleheader to the Widener Pride (14-13) on Saturday afternoon at Widener Baseball Field in Chester.

The Pride took game one by a score of 8-7 and won game two, 10-4.

Game One

Widener scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh including a two-run walk-off homer from Andrew Yates to take the 8-7 victory.

Two Scranton errors in the afore-mentioned seventh led to the five Widener runs as all five runs in the frame were unearned.

Sophomore right-hander George Sengos (Washington Twp., N.J./Westwood Regional) struck out a pair in the inning, but was dealt the tough luck loss for the Royals. Toby Hallman recorded the win for the Pride.

The Royals struck first in game one with two in the first inning as a walk and a single started the frame before sophomore Corey Zientek (Sugarloaf, Pa./Hazleton Area) plated a run with a sac fly and senior Tyler Kirsten (Wallenpaupack, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

Harding's single in the inning made him the third member of the 200-hit club in program history, joining Tommy Trotter (219) and Chris Stallone (202). The Vestal, N.Y., native now has 204 hits at the conclusion of Saturday's games.

Johnson also singled in the first inning for the 100^th hit of his career.

Scranton tacked on two more runs in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead at the time as Harding drove home junior Nick Reposa (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) with an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch. Senior Jake Lisicky (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) came through with a two-run triple in the sixth inning, but Widener got a pair back in the bottom half to cut the lead to 6-3.

Junior right-hander Hunter Ralston (Duryea, Pa./Pittston Area) was impressive on the mound for the Royals, as he allowed just one run on three hits over five innings of work in a no-decision.

Austin Oliver started for Widener and surrendered two runs on seven hits to go along with two walks and two strikeouts in 2 2/3 IP.

Harding (3-5, RBI, SB, 2 R) and Johnson (2-4) both had multi-hit games to lead the way offensively for the visitors.

Game Two

The Royals made it a one run game with two runs in the sixth, but wound up dropping game two by a score of 10-4.

Widener plated six runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 10-3 lead as Austin Oliver delivered the big blow with a two-out, two-run double to plate the first runs of the inning.  

The Pride got on the board with a run in the home half of the first and the Royals tied the game at one in the third inning when sophomore Matthew Querey (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) led off with a single, stole second, took third on the throw and scored on Harding's sac fly. Widener immediately responded with a run in the home half on an RBI groundout and added two more runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead.

Lisicky provided an RBI double in the top of the sixth and senior Dan Crossan (Media, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) cut the lead to 4-3 with a sac fly before the Pride answered in the afore-mentioned home half of the frame.

Junior right-hander Daniel Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Immaculata) took the loss for Scranton as he surrendered two runs on four hits while walking three and fanning two in 3.0 IP.

Sean Curran recorded the win for the Pride in a complete game effort, allowing four runs on seven hits to go along with four walks and five strikeouts.

Harding (2-2, RBI, BB, SB, R) and Zientek (2-3, RBI) had multi-hit games for the Royals, while freshman righty Kevin Keil (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Atlantic County Institute of Technology) tossed a scoreless inning in relief of Johnson.

The University of Scranton baseball team returns home to host Misericordia in non-conference action on Monday afternoon with first pitch at Volpe Field slated for 4 p.m.

--ROYALS--