YORK, PA – The York College Spartans closed out the MAC Commonwealth portion of their schedule with a split against Eastern on Saturday at Jaquet Field. It's the first time this year that the Spartans didn't win at least three games in a four game Commonwealth series. For the second day in a row, the Spartans won the opener in a shutout, 11-0. And for the second day in a row, the Eagles exploded offensively to win the nightcap. On Saturday, Eastern won game two 12-7. Prior to the first game, the Spartans honored their 14 seniors in a pregame ceremony. 

The Spartans are now 21-5 overall and 16-4 in the MAC as they will be the number one seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The Eagles are 8-14 overall and 7-9 in the league.

Game One

Hits: York 13, Eastern 2

Errors: York 0, Eastern 2

2B: York 4, Eastern 2

3B: York 1, Eastern 0

HR: York 1, Eastern 0

LOB: York 6, Eastern 6

WP: Robert Chaney (5-0) LP: John Beck (0-1)

How it Happened

• The Spartans fired the opening salvo in the bottom of the second with back-to-back doubles from Joe Capobianco and Brandon White, giving the Spartans the 1-0 lead. The Spartans had runners at second and third looking to get more but Jayden Cowan hit a rocket right at the shortstop to end the frame without any further damage.

• York tacked on a trio of runs in the bottom of the third. Luke Turner led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch. Austin Denlinger lined a single to left to put runners at first and second. Jack Barry hit a high fly ball to the wall in center as Turner moved to third. Denlinger moved to second two pitches later on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Jimmy Wiegers drove an 0-2 pitch to right field for a two-run single. Wiegers stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on a Craig Wiley RBI single to right center for the 4-0 Spartan lead.

• York tacked on a single run in the fifth as Wiegers doubled, stole third and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.

• The Spartans removed all doubt with a sixth run bottom of the sixth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Capobianco ripped an 0-2 pitch to left to plate a pair. Wiegers then blasted a triple to right and he came around to score when the throw attempting to get him at third was astray. White drilled a solo homer to center to close out the scoring.

• The only drama that remained was whether Spartan starter Robert Chaney would be able to earn the shutout. He got a pair of strikeouts before head coach Mike Scappa went to the mound to allow senior Donovan Oakes to close it out. Oakes coaxed Jake Jones into a fly out to left to end the game.

Spartan Leaders

Senior Jimmy Wiegers celebrated senior day in fine fashion as he was 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored … Wiegers had a double and a triple in the win … Joe Capobianco was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI … senior Brandon White went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI … Austin Denlinger added two hits and a run scored to the 13-hit Spartan attack … senior Robert Chaney twirled a gem as he threw 6.2 innings of shutout baseball as he allowed just two hits, struck out seven and walked two as he improved to 5-0.

Game Two

Hits: York 10, Eastern 11

Errors: York 1, Eastern 1

2B: York 1, Eastern 3

3B: York 0, Eastern 1

HR: York 4, Eastern 2

LOB: York 7, Eastern 10

WP: Tyler Bennett (2-2) LP: Zach Reed (1-1)

How It Happened

• After being shutout in the opener, the Eagles ambushed Spartan starter Zach Reed for a pair of runs on a two-run David Hunsberger double to left center to give the Eagles the early lead.

• The second inning was quiet for the Eagles but the third inning saw Eastern knock Reed from the game with a five-run inning. A pair of walks to open the inning weren't on base long as Matt McHale tripled to right center to push the lead to 4-0. Two pitches later, Hunsberger blasted a bomb to right, making it 6-0 Eastern. Jake Jones doubled, moved to third on a ground out before scoring on a wild pitch. That would chase Reed for the game and began a Spartan bullpen parade.

• Eastern tallied another three runs in the top of the fourth, increasing the lead to 10-0. York got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Jack Barry blasted his conference-leading tenth home run of the year deep to right.

• The Eagles got single runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings as they led 12-1 after five and a half innings of play. York tried the climb back into the game in the sixth with a three run outburst. Austin Denlinger doubled to left center with one out. Barry singled up the middle to score Denlinger. Barry then rode home when Joe Capobianco launched a two run homer to deep left, cutting the Eastern lead to 12-4.

• Denlinger further cut into the Eastern lead in the seventh as he hit a two-run homer to deep left, trimming the Eagle lead to 12-6.

• York's final run came in the bottom of the ninth as Barry blasted his second home run of the game and his 11^th of the year, a solo shot to deep right.

Spartan Leaders

Senior Jack Barry went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI with two home runs … Austin Denlinger was 2-for-5 with two RBI and two run scored as he had a home run and a double … Joe Capobianco hit his fourth home run of the year … Jayden Cowan went 2-for-5 with a run scored from the lead-off spot.

Notes

The Spartans are now 7-3 all-time against Eastern … senior Jack Barry finished the weekend with four home runs for the weekend as he is now second on the all-time home runs list with 27, one back of Spartan Hall of Famer Mike Welch … Barry now has 11 home runs for the year and that ranks him tied for fourth on the single season list as he shares fourth with Chris Skowronski … Bob Ancharski holds the single season record with 14 bombs in 2001 … the Spartans lead the MAC in batting average (.337), runs (223), hits (306), triples (12), home runs (34), RBI (202), total base (491), walks (104), and slugging percentage (.541) while they are second in doubles (59) and fielding percentage (.961) … the Spartans blasted a season-high tying four home runs in game two … they have hit four home runs in three games and are 1-2 in those games … the Spartans stole a season-high tying four bags in the game one win … the Spartan pitchers walked a season-high 11 in the game two loss … the Spartans picked up their third shutout of the year in game one … as they held Eastern to just two hits … the bottom four in the Spartan lineup was held hitless in game two.

Up Next

The Spartans close out their regular season on Wednesday afternoon when they host Stevens Institute of Technology in a MAC Cross Over contest at Jaquet Field. The game is set for a 3:30 pm first pitch.

Audio highlights courtesy of Darrell Henry - The Voice of the Spartans