Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 YORK, PA – The York College baseball team swept the Eastern University Eagles in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals on Saturday in York. The Spartans won game one 9-7 and then completed the sweep with a 12-4 win in the nightcap.
The Spartans improve to 26-6 as they will face the winner of Sunday's Alvernia/Lebanon Valley winner take all semifinal game in Reading in next week's championship series. The Spartans have won five of their last six including four of five in the MAC Commonwealth tournament.
Eastern sees their tournament run come to an end with a mark of 10-18.
Game One
Hits: York 10, Eastern 11
Errors: York 0, Eastern 0
2B: York 1, Eastern 1
3B: York 0, Eastern 0
HR: York 2, Eastern 0
LOB: York 4, Eastern 11
WP: Brandon Haggerty (9-0) LP: Tyler Bennett (2-3) Save: Conor Miller (8)
How It Happened
• The Eagles nicked Spartan ace Brandon Haggerty for a pair of runs in the top of the first Shane Albertson singled to open the frame. After a strikeout, Matt McHale singled to put runners at first and second. Liam Clarke was hit by a pitch to load the bases and then Jake Jones drew a walk to plate Albertson for the first run of the game. An RBI ground out scored Eastern's second run before Haggerty got a strikeout to end the inning.
• York got one back in the bottom of the first as Austin Denlinger blasted his 15th home run of the year to deep center, slicing the Eagle lead in half.
• With the skies threatening in the bottom of the fifth, the Spartan offense struck. The inning began with Brandon White drawing a lead-off walk. Craig Wiley was then hit by a pitch and Brian Jakubek reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Jayden Cowan drew a five pitch walk to tie the game at two. Denlinger was hit with an 0-1 pitch to give York a 3-2 lead. Jack Barry then made history, again, with a grand slam to give York a 7-2 advantage. The home run was a majestic bomb deep over the 16-foot-high wall in right center and was his school-record 16th of the season and 32nd of his career. Junior Joe Capobianco got things restarted with a sharp single up the middle. He moved to second on a balk and to third on a Luke Turner single to left. Capobianco scored on White's sacrifice fly to deep center as the Green and White led 8-2.
• The Eagles made it interesting in the seventh with a four run outburst. They chased Haggerty with one out and runners at first and second. They loaded the bases and then Clarke Singled to drive in the first run of the inning. Jake Jones then had a two run double to cut the Spartan lead to 8-5. Brad Clemens singled home Clark to cut the lead to 8-6.
• Eastern made it an 8-7 game in the eighth as McHale got a bloop single to shallow right to score Albertson. The Eagles eventually got runners at second and third with two outs and senior closer Conor Miller made a ridiculous play on a bloop to the second base side of the mound. Miller got to the ball and had a back-hand flip to get Jones at first by a whisker for the out.
• York got that run back as White singled up the middle to score pinch runner Brendan Martin with the Spartans' ninth run of the game.
• Miller got a pair of strikeouts in the ninth to close it out for his eighth save of the year.
Spartan Leaders
Senior Jack Barry hit his second grand slam in just over two weeks as he was 2-for-4 with a run scored and four RBI … Luke Turner banged out a team-high three hits … Austin Denlinger was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI … Brandon White went 1-for-2 with two RBI, a run scored and a walk … Joe Capobianco, Brian Jakubek, and Craig Wiley all had a hit and a run scored for York … Brandon Haggerty earned his ninth win of the year as he tossed 6.1 innings, allowed a season-high four runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts and a season-high four walks … Conor Miller tossed 2.2 innings to pick up his conference-leading eighth save as he allowed a run on five hits with two strikeouts.
Game Two
Hits: York 18, Eastern 7
Errors: York 1, Eastern 4
2B: York 3, Eastern 3
3B: York 0, Eastern 0
HR: York 2, Eastern 0
LOB: York 9, Eastern 10
WP: Robert Chaney (6-1) LP: Mickey Foytik (2-4)
How It Happened
• The Spartans jumped out in front in the bottom of the second with a three-run inning. The first run scored on a double play ground ball. Catcher Brian Jakubek then singled to left to score Luke Turner with York's second run. Jakubek would come around to score on an Austin Denlinger RBI double to left center.
• York added two runs in the third as Brandon White had a two-run single down the left field line to score Joe Capobianco and Jimmy Wiegers as the lead grew to 5-0.
• York kept rolling in the fourth with an Austin Denlinger bomb to center. Wiegers doubled to center to score Jack Barry who had walked earlier in the inning.
• The Eagles got into the scoring column in the fifth with a Mark Cruser RBI double to left center as Eastern still trailed 7-1.
• The Spartans removed all doubt in the bottom of the frame with another Denlinger bomb as the junior shortstop crushed a three-run homer to put York up 10-1. The home run took the team lead, the conference lead, the national lead from Barry and pushed the school record to 17 as they continue to go back and forth with long distance home runs.
• The Spartans got single runs in the sixth and seventh inning while the Eagles put up a three spot in the seventh to provide for the final 12-4 Spartan margin of victory.
Spartan Leaders
Junior Austin Denlinger continued to stay red hot as he went 3-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored including his 16th and 17th home runs of the year … Joe Capobianco went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI … Jayden Cowan went 3-for-5 at the top of the order for York … Jimmy Wiegers went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI … Brandon White went 2-for-5 with two RBI … Craig Wiley was 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI while Brian Jakubek was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI … Senior Robert Chaney improved to 6-1 as he went six innings, allowing one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks … fellow senior Rory Costello threw 1.1 innings of perfect relief with one strikeout.
Notes
The Spartans went 4-2 against the Eagles this year and now lead the all-time series 9-3 … the Spartans will try to earn their first conference championship since the 1999 team won the Capital Athletic Conference … the Spartans have three conference titles in school history as they won the CAC in 1991, 1996, and 1999 … York will be making their 12th championship game (or series) appearance in school history with the last one coming in the 2013 CAC Championship game … junior Austin Denlinger has now hit 10 home runs in his last seven games with three multi-homer games …. Denlinger also has 19 RBI in his last 10 games … Jack Barry has also been prolific with the long ball as he has seven homers in his last seven games while he has driven in 15 … Barry and Denlinger are all over the MAC Commonwealth leaders … Barry is second in average (.421), second in runs (42), second in homers (16), first in RBI (47), second in total basees (103), second in slugging percentage (.904), second in walks (19), and third in on-base percentage (.518) … Denlinger ranks third in batting average (.400), first in runs (44), first in hits (54), second in doubles (15), third in doubles (4), first in home runs (17), second in RBI (45), first in total bases (128), and first in slugging percentage (.948) … senior Brandon Haggerty leads the Commonwealth in wins with nine and strikeouts with 68 ... senior Conor Miller picked up his eighth save of the season and his 12th career save ... Miller now ranks second in career saves and he is two back of record holder Brandon Ullom ... Miller is third in single season saves, three back of single season record holder Ed Meister.
Up Next
The Spartans will host the first two games of the MAC Commonwealth championship series next Saturday at Jaquet Field. The Spartans will face the winner of Sunday's Alvernia – Lebanon Valley decisive game three at Alvernia University. Game one next weekend will start at noon.
Audio Highlights courtesy of Darrell Henry - The Voice of the Spartans
