YORK, PA-The York College Spartan baseball team rebounded from Saturday's disappointing loss to #3 Cortland to defeat Christopher Newport 6-5 in non-conference regional action at a sun-splashed Jaquet Field on Sunday. The Spartans improve to 27-9 overall while the Captains fall to 24-17.
?? ?The Spartans got on the board first in the bottom of the second. Junior catcher Mike Santoro (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) led off the frame with a walk. After Mike Connolly (Selden, NY/Newfield) sacrificed Santoro to second, sophomore Ryan Poff (York, PA/Spring Grove) plated Santoro with a line drive home run to deep right centerfield, giving the Spartans the 2-0 lead. The home run was Poff's fourth of the year.
?? ?The Captains got on the board in the top of the third with a two-out RBI single from Trae Bailey, scoring Danny Crane. Crane reached when Spartan starter Tim Frisch (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) walked him after getting ahead 0-2 in the at-bat.
?? ?The green and white answered the Captains' run in the top of the third with a pair in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Bryan Bednarczyk (Columbia, MD/River Hill) was hit by a pitch. Senior Jeff Young (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) then scorched a triple to the right-center gap, scoring Bednarczyk with the Spartans' third run. Young then trotted home when Santoro stroked a single down the third base line.
?? ?The Spartans handed the Captains four runs in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Bednarczyk picked up a sharply hit ground ball by Crane. He attempted to get the force at home but his throw sailed wide of Santoro, allowing a pair of runs to score. Zach Hutchinson added to the Spartan misery with a double down the right field line, a ball that snuck just inside the line, scoring two and giving the Captains the 5-4 lead. All four runs in the inning were unearned thanks to the miscue.
?? ?The Captains returned the favor to the Spartans in the fifth as Bailey threw away a Poff ground out with two outs, allowing Santoro to score from second, tying the game at five through five.
?? ?After the sixth or seventh innings failed to provide a tie-breaking run, the Spartans plated the eventual game-winner when Poff doubled and scored when Ryan Craig (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) drilled an RBI single down the left field line in the bottom of the eighth
?? ?The Captains made it interesting in the ninth as Crane drew a lead off walk and was sacrificed over the second but Frisch got a pop up and a ground out to end the game.
?? ?Frisch finished the game allowing five runs but just one earned run. He surrendered 10 hits with nine strikeouts and a pair of walks. Frisch improves to 5-2.
?? ?Ian Lenda took the loss as he allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits with two strikeouts and one walk in 7.1 innings of work. Lenda falls to 3-4 with the loss. Kevin Moreland tossed the final two thirds of an inning for the Captains.
?? ?York was led by Poff as the sophomore banged out three hits, drove in two and scored two others. Santoro added two hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Craig was 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI.
?? ?Hutchinson paced CNU with two hits and a pair of RBI. Parker Neal and Michael Kurbjeweit each added two hits and a run scored for the Captains.
?? ?The Spartans return to action on Tuesday as they host Gettysburg in a regional match up. First pitch from Jaquet Field is scheduled for 4:00 pm.