SCRANTON, Pa. --- The Moravian College baseball team dropped a pair of Landmark Conference contests at the University of Scranton Sunday, falling 15-8 in a game halted on Saturday after one inning, and dropping the series finale, 11-10 in 11 innings.
In the completion of the second game from Saturday, the Hounds collected 14 hits with junior third baseman Evan Kulig going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a double. Sophomore right fielder Carmine Palummo was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored while junior center fielder Austin Markowski was 2-for-4 with a double. Sophomore second baseman Ian Csencsits went 2-for-5 with two runs and a double while senior first baseman Logan Welles connected on his third home run of the season.
Senior Dan Morrin took the loss after pitching the first inning on Saturday, allowing nine runs, seven unearned, on four hits and two walks to go with one strikeout. Freshman Kyle Serman tossed the first inning on Sunday with four runs on five hits while junior Billy Roethke pitched the final six innings with two runs on five hits and two walks.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning played on Saturday. Palummo led off with a single and Kulig connected on a one-out single. After the second out of the inning, Welles connected on a three-run homer to get Moravian on the scoreboard.
The Royals answered with nine runs in the bottom of the first inning for a 9-3 edge before the rain became too hard to continue on Scranton's new turf field to halt the game until Sunday.
When play resumed, Moravian scored in the top of the second inning when freshman shortstop Michael Miceli reached on an error and raced home on an RBI single from Palummo.
Scranton scored three times in the bottom of the second to extend the edge to 13-4.
Moravian plated a run in the fifth inning when Palummo led off with a single and scored on an RBI double by Kulig, and the Greyhounds pulled within 13-7 with two runs in the seventh inning. Csencsits connected on a double with one out and scored on an RBI single by Kulig. After moving to second on a wild pitch, Kulig would race home on an RBI single off of Markowski's bat.
Scranton scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning before the Hounds finished off the scoring with a run in the top of the ninth inning when Csencsits started the frame with a single and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by junior left fielder Mike Mittl.
The Greyhounds would collect 14 hits in the second contest and regularly scheduled game on Sunday. Palummo went 2-for-3 with two runs and a pair of walks while Csencsits and Markowski were both 2-for-4 with Csencsits scoring twice, driving in two runs and hitting a homer and Markowski adding two runs and a solo home run. Junior catcher Chase Rogers and Miceli were both 2-for-5 with Rogers adding a triple and Miceli scoring twice and driving in one run. Kulig was 2-for-6 at the plate with three RBIs and a double in the contest while Mittl had a double and two RBIs.
Junior Rhett Jacoby made the start on the mound for Moravian, allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits to go with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Sophomore Connor Morro tossed three innings with two runs on a hit and three walks to go with one strikeout. Kulig tossed the final two-thirds of an inning with a pair of runs on three hits and one strikeout.
The Blue and Grey jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning in the series finale. Palummo started the frame with a walk and raced home on an RBI double by Kulig. Markowski would draw a walk, and both Kulig and Markowski would score on a two-RBI double by Mittl.
Moravian scored four more times in the top of the fourth to extend its advantage to 7-0. Rogers led off with a triple and scored on an RBI single by Miceli. After a sacrifice bunt, Csencsits connected on a two-run homer, his second home run of the season. Markowski followed with a solo home run that stayed just fair of the right field foul pole for his team-leading seventh homer of the spring.
Scranton scored in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the Hounds lead to 7-1.
The Blue and Grey added a run in the top of the sixth inning for an 8-1 edge. Miceli and Palummo had singles to start the frame, and Miceli eventually scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Kulig.
The Royals would score six times in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull within a run, and Scranton knotted the score at 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth.
The teams headed to extra innings, and Moravian scored twice in the top of the tenth to take a 10-8 lead. Palummo hit a one-out single before Csencsits walked. Kulig followed with an RBI single to score Palummo, and Markowski drew a walk to load the bases. Welles would also walk to push Csencsits across the plate. However, a double play ended the inning.
Scranton answered with two runs in the bottom half of the tenth to tie the game again at 10-10 before the Royals scored once in the 11th to win the game.
The Greyhounds will need on the results of the Landmark Conference series between the Royals and Susquehanna University next Saturday and Sunday, May 5-6 to see if Moravian earns the fourth spot in the 2018 Landmark Conference Tournament. The Hounds need Scranton to win two of the three games in that series to make the postseason since Moravian has the tiebreaker over the River Hawks having won two of three games in their Landmark series earlier in April.
