Kyle Fackler at Susquehanna (2) 5/14/17
4
Elizabethtown ETOWN 17-11, 5-5 Landmark
5
Winner Susquehanna SUS 19-12, 10-3 Landmark
Elizabethtown ETOWN
17-11, 5-5 Landmark
4
Final
5
Susquehanna SUS
19-12, 10-3 Landmark
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Elizabethtown ETOWN 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 4 9 0
Susquehanna SUS 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 5 14 0

W: A.J. Pinto (1-0) L: Stinar, Braden (5-3)

6
Winner Elizabethtown ETOWN 18-11, 6-5 Landmark
3
Susquehanna SUS 19-13, 10-4 Landmark
Winner
Elizabethtown ETOWN
18-11, 6-5 Landmark
6
Final
3
Susquehanna SUS
19-13, 10-4 Landmark
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Elizabethtown ETOWN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 11 2
Susquehanna SUS 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1

W: Brndjar, Andrew (1-0) L: Liam Conboy (0-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Fackler closes in on hits record, Blue Jays split at Susquehanna

SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- Elizabethtown and Susquehanna went at it on the diamond Saturday for the first time since last May's Landmark Conference championship series. Both games of the doubleheader went further than their advertised distances, with the River Hawks claiming game one, 5-4, in eight innings and the Blue Jays forging a split with a 6-3 game two victory.
 
Senior second baseman Kyle Fackler pushed his hitting streak to 12 games and following a 4 for 5 effort in the nightcap is now just three hits away from breaking Brad Duppstadt's career program record of 200.
 
GAME 1
Susquehanna 5, Elizabethtown 4 (F/8)
 
Elizabethtown built a 4-2 lead with single runs in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings, but the River Hawks rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh off closer Josh Kwak to tie the game and then won it in the eighth on Danny Gordon's walk-off single.
 
Richy Masciarelli broke a scoreless game in the third with a two-out triple to deep center that brought home Kyle Fackler and the Blue Jays added to their lead in the fourth when Nick Lorenz led off the inning by cracking his team-leading fourth home run of the season off Susquehanna ace Bobby Grigas.
 
Susquehanna pulled a run back in the fourth and then used a long ball of its own –this one from Cory Fallon—to tie the game at two in the fifth.
 
The Blue Jays looked to be in business in the sixth as Colby Smith drew a lead-off base on balls and Mike Christy doubled to the gap in right center to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Smith scored the go-ahead run and Christy advanced to third on a passed ball with one out in the frame, but were left unsatisfied after not being able to drive home Christy with less than two outs.
 
Smith came up again in the seventh and punched a single into left that scored James Kantner for a 4-2 lead.
 
Kwak, who relieved starter Kevin Elwell to start the sixth, quickly escaped the inning on five pitches. He came back out in the seventh looking for his fourth save of the year, but was done in by Susquehanna's fundamental offense. The River Hawks got a walk, a seeing-eye single, a sacrifice bunt and another single to tie the game at three. Fallon's sacrifice fly knotted the score at four.
 
Susquehanna nearly won it in the bottom of the seventh on Dylan Jenkins' two-out double, but Masciarelli and Lorenz each put throws on point to nail Zach Leone at the plate for the final out of the inning.
 
The Jays went quietly in the top of the eighth, but the River Hawks did not. Another lead-off walk would come back to haunt E-town, as Gordon singled home pinch-runner Chris Corrado with the winning run.
 
Fackler and Christy were both 2 for 4 for Elizabethtown, and Smith was 1 for 1 with three walks.
 
The River Hawks collected 14 hits to E-town's nine, but stranded nine runners. Leone finished 3 for 4 and Ben Burman was 3 for 3 before being lifted for the quicker Corrado in the eighth.
 
Neither starter factored into the decision. Elizabethtown's Elwell bounced back from a tough outing against Catholic to hold Susquehanna to two runs in five innings. Elwell did not allow a walk and struck out two. SU's Grigas left after giving up two runs and striking out three in four innings.
 
A.J. Pinto tossed two scoreless innings and also struck out three to snag the win for the hosts.
 
Lorenz's homer was the 12th of his career, tying the junior shortstop with Chris Romig for 10th all-time at Elizabethtown. The Blue Jays welcomed back first baseman Brian Portillo, who missed most of the last month due to injury. Portillo was 0 for 2 in game one.
 
GAME 2
Elizabethtown 6, Susquehanna 3 (F/11)
 
Kyle Fackler continued to punish opposing pitching and joined James Kantner in providing the Blue Jays with run-scoring hits in a three-run 11th inning as the Blue and Gray outlasted Susquehanna, 6-3, in game two.
 
Early offense gave way to pitching prowess in the nightcap. Elizabethtown (18-11, 6-5 Landmark) scored three runs in the first two innings and then went scoreless for eight before breaking through in the 11th. Susquehanna, meanwhile, didn't score from the fourth inning on.
 
It was Fackler's lead-off walk that set the stage for the Jays' first run, courtesy of Colby Smith's single to left in the top of the first.
 
Smith was back at it again in the second, stroking a two-run single for a 3-2 Elizabethtown lead reaching 80 career RBIs in the process.
 
Mike Garvey started and gave the Blue Jays a strong seven innings. Garvey scattered seven hits and struck out a career-high seven. The River Hawks (19-13, 10-4) also got a great effort from Nathan Madden, who struck out eight in nine innings.
 
Between the fifth and seventh innings, the teams only managed one hit each. E-town's Fackler singled in the top of the seventh and SU's Zach Leone did the same in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Elizabethtown was down to its last out in the 11th with only pinch-runner Riley McGinley on second before coming up with a couple of clutch hits. Kantner broke the 3-3 deadlock, bringing in McGinley with a single off Liam Conboy. The next batter, Fackler, worked a full count before tripling to the gap in right and a River Hawk miscue led to E-town's third run of the inning.
 
Freshman Andrew Brndjar, who worked the final 3.2 innings, retired Susquehanna's 1-2-3 hitters in order to finish things off for his first career victory.
 
Fackler went 4 for 5 with a run batted in, three runs scored and a walk. He raised his batting average to an obscene .477 for the season, tops in all the Landmark and fifth best in NCAA Division III. The Harrisburg native is just two hits away from 200 in his career, which would tie Brad Duppstadt for the school record. Fackler is also just 10 runs shy of tying Adam Sheibley's school record of 162.
 
Smith, who was 2 for 6 in game two, drove in a game-high three runs. Kantner collected a pair of hits, while Mike Christy, Nick Bein and Anthony Knight each had one.
 
Elizabethtown held a slim 11-10 edge in hits, but the only River Hawk to account for more than one was center fielder Nick Berger, who was 3 for 5.
 
ON DECK
Elizabethtown and Susquehanna meet again Sunday to conclude their three-game series in Selinsgrove. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
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