SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton baseball team (14-5) broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning and notched an 11-4 victory over Penn State Harrisburg (16-6) in non-conference action on Friday evening at Volpe Field in Scranton.
The Royals led 5-3 in the home half of the fifth before junior Jake Elston (New Milford, Conn./Canterbury School) delivered a three-run triple as the big blow in the inning which opened a 9-3 lead.
This marked the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Penn State Harrisburg was receiving votes in the latest NCBWA/D3Baseball.com Top 25 that was released earlier this week.
Scranton struck first with a five-run third inning as they took advantage of two costly errors by the Lions in the inning. Sophomore Conor Campbell (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) plated the first two runs of the game with a two-run single, classmate Vincent Napolitano (Merrick, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) added an RBI single of his own and senior Jack Heineman (Abington, Pa./LaSalle College) knocked in a pair with a two-run double.
Fisher Druck was dealt the loss for the Lions as he allowed five runs (one earned) on eight hits to go along with two walks and two strikeouts over four innings of work.
Graduate student righty Hunter Ralston (Duryea, Pa./Pittston Area) gave up one run on four hits while walking one and fanning four in 4.0 IP of a no-decision for the Royals. Senior southpaw Matthew Moreira (Union, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) recorded the win after allowing three runs on five hits to go along with a pair of strikeouts in 2 2/3 IP.
The Lions battled back from the early hole and trimmed the deficit to two at 5-3 with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth.
In the afore-mentioned fifth inning for Scranton, a pair of singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with two away before senior Nick Reposa (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) perfectly placed a bunt single down the first base line and was able to elude the tag which allowed a run to score. Elston then followed with the three-run triple to clear the bases.
Napolitano hit his first home run of the season with a shot to right field in the sixth inning as the Royals extended the lead to 10-3 and freshman Jimmy Lundari (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) plated the final run of the game with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.
Senior lefty Mike Fox (Westfield, N.J./Union Catholic) gave up two hits over 1 1/3 scoreless IP of relief and sophomore righty Ryan Boyd (Millwood, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) struck out a pair in a perfect ninth for head coach Mike Bartoletti's team.
Five different players tallied multi-hit games for the Royals as senior Matthew Querey (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) (3-3, 2B, 3 R) and Reposa (3-4, RBI, 2 R) recorded three hits apiece, while Elston (2-3, 3B, 3 RBI), Heineman (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R) and Napolitano (2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) all added a pair.
Scranton will host Keystone on Sunday afternoon at Volpe Field with action slated to get underway at 1 p.m.
--ROYALS--
