Falcons survive ninth, advance in World Series
May 29—A big inning early, and another one late, helped Lackawanna College stave off elimination.
A few magic acts in the middle made sure the Falcons did so by a relatively comfortable margin.
Zach Walsh ripped a two-run double to highlight a five-run second and later helped throw out a runner at the plate, and the Falcons defense helped keep Glendale Community College at bay in a 10-8 win Monday afternoon in the NJCAA Division II World Series at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahama.
Despite a four-run ninth inning that saw Glendale bring the tying run to the plate, Lackawanna stayed alive and will play another elimination game against
St. Johns River State on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The Falcons had to fight throughout Monday's game, a first-round rematch against a Gauchos team they beat Saturday, 9-1.
Glendale scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning against tall lefty Brandon Holzinger, and Gauchos right-hander Guillermo Rivera retired the first five Falcons hitters he faced with relative ease, striking out three.
But as it did in the first meeting between the programs, the Falcons offense showed it could score in bunches.
Spencer Butz lined a Rivera pitch down the right field line for a two-out double in the second, starting a furious rally that saw both Cole Casamento and Brayden D'Amico knock in runs before the North Pocono grad Walsh drilled a double to left-center, one-hopping the wall and bringing two runs home. Walsh would come home two batters later, when Christian Rush lined a double to left for a 6-3 lead.
Designated hitter Ryan Ludwick's one-out solo home run far over the left-center field wall in the third pushed the Falcons lead to four, and from there, head coach Mike McCarry's bullpen — with plenty of help from an opportunistic defense — took care of the rest.
Right-handers Matthew McElligott and Jace Cunnane combined to work six innings, with the Gauchos scoring just twice against McElligott despite getting 12 baserunners against them.
One of those runs came in the fourth, but it could have been more. With runners on first and third and two out, Brayan Espinoza laced a McElligott pitch into the gap in left-center. Austin Biddle scored easily from third, but Walsh raced over from straight away center and, straining, knocked the ball down before it could bounce to the wall.
That effort allowed him to pick up the ball and make an off-balance throw to shortstop Brayden D'Amico, who threw Carson Baker out at home by several feet as he tried to score from first.
Preventing a run here and there proved to be important for the Falcons. So did staving off potentially big innings.
Glendale had the leadoff man on in seven of the game's nine innings, and against Cunnane in the sixth, it did a bit better: bases loaded, one out.
On the first pitch Cunnane threw him, Espinoza ripped a hard line drive down the third-base line, but right at third baseman Dennis Pierce, who gloved it behind third and stepped on the bag to double off Jacob Bauler, helping Cunnane out of the mess.
Lackawanna seemed to put the game away in the eighth, scoring four times off four different Glendale relievers, with D'Amico punching a double down the right field line that brought one home and Pierce continuing his hot World Series with a two-run single.
Glendale had one last answer though. Facing right-hander George Castro, an outfielder who knocked in 13 runs this season and had never made an appearance on the mound for the Falcons, the Gauchos scored four runs, with Bauler completing a 5-for-5 day with a two-run single that made it 10-8. But right-hander Nathan Russell struck out Biddle with a slider to end the game and send the Falcons to a second win for the first time in five World Series appearances.
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