SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton baseball team (15-5) rolled to a third straight win with an 18-4 victory over the Keystone Giants (16-8) in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon at Volpe Field in Scranton.
Scranton scored three in the first to take an early lead and broke the game open in the middle innings as a four-run fifth extended the advantage to 8-1.
Keystone got on the board first with a run in the top of the first, but senior John Zarnowski (East Brunswick, N.J./St. Joseph's) delivered an RBI single in the home half to tie the game and junior Pat Coyne (Randolph, N.J./Morristown-Beard) followed with a two-run single. In the bottom of the second, sophomore Aidan Casey (Silver Beach, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on senior Nick Reposa's (Factoryville, Pa./Tunkhannock) sac fly for a 4-1 lead.
Junior right-hander Dominic Chieffalo (Norristown, Pa./Malvern Prep) made his first career start and gave up just one run on three hits to go along with two walks and a career-high four strikeouts in 4.0 IP. Senior lefty Matt Roda (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) came on in relief of Chieffalo and struck out one over two shutout innings to earn the win.
Aidan Pawlak was dealt the loss for Keystone after allowing four runs on four hits while walking four and fanning one in three innings of work.
In the afore-mentioned four-run fifth inning, a hit by pitch, single and walk loaded the bases to set the stage for a pair of bases-loaded walks as well as two hit batsmen which opened an 8-1 advantage.
Sophomore Conor Campbell (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) plated a pair with a two-run triple in the seventh and Zarnowski added a sac fly. From there, Scranton tacked on seven more runs in the eighth including RBI singles from Campbell and freshman Brayden Keller (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville).
The Royals had 11 hits in the game and also drew 13 walks.
Campbell (3-5, 3B, 4 RBI, SB, 3 R) and senior Jack Heineman (Abington, Pa./LaSalle College) who tallied two hits and two runs scored led the way offensively, while fellow senior Matthew Querey (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) drew four walks, drove in a run and scored two.
Senior righty Johnny Flannigan (Huntington, N.Y./St. Dominic) struck out one in a scoreless inning of relief and classmate George Sengos (Washington Twp., N.J./Westwood Regional) struck out the side in the eighth for head coach Mike Bartoletti's team.
Scranton will host No. 19 Misericordia on Tuesday at Volpe Field with first pitch slated for 5 p.m.
--ROYALS--
