Falcons run ends with blowout loss
May 31—They went down swinging.
But in the end, Lackawanna didn't have the pitching to extend its history-making run in the NJCAA Division II World Series.
St. Johns River State batted around in three different innings, including sending 12 to the plate during a back-breaking eight-run eighth, pushing the Vikings to a 23-9, run-rule-shortened win in eight innings Tuesday night at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma.
The Falcons went 2-2 in their fifth trip to the World Series, and despite falling short of a rematch against top seed Heartland Community College on Wednesday, they won one more game than they did in their first four trips to the championship tournament combined.
Despite a sluggish pitching performance that saw the Falcons combine to walk 13 batters and allow three home runs, Lackawanna scored in each of the game's first five innings to remain within striking distance.
Four of those runs came in the third, when Brayden D'Amico, Ian Murphy and Riverside's Michael Rickert all had RBI hits. Christian Rush's RBI single highlighted a two-run fifth, after which the Falcons trailed only 11-8.
Wildness, though, kept the scoring chances coming for the opportunistic Vikings.
They scored six times in the second inning with the benefit of just one hit, an RBI single by Jack Slater against lefty reliever Ty Federici. Three walks, two errors and a hit batter put six straight runners on ahead of that hit.
The Vikings batted around again in the sixth, scoring four times with two coming home on a ringing double to left-center by second baseman Roger Vergara. Again, it was the only hit of an inning that saw four walks and two hit batters.
But the eighth inning buried the Falcons.
A dozen hitters came to the plate, and eight straight hitters scored after the first two batters of the inning were retired.
Leadoff man Maverick Stallings launched a home run against reliever Ben Riddick, his fourth hit of the game that made it 16-9. Vergara, Kaleb Freeman and Tyson Greene all ripped singles, and two scored on a balk and a wild pitch. Michael Furry singled to bring home another run, pushing the total to 20 before Nathan Gagnon launched a three-run home run.
Despite the 14-run loss that sent them back to Scranton, the Falcons did smash 13 hits, the third time in four games in the tournament they had 10 or more.
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