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The University of Scranton advanced in the Landmark Conference baseball playoffs Friday in dramatic fashion.
Tied at 7 in the top of the 11th inning, the Royals pushed across three runs to defeat Elizabethtown College, 10-7, at Penn Medicine Park in Lancaster.
Scranton scored the go-ahead run when Jake Lopez was walked with the bases loaded, scoring Aidan Casey.
Then, Conor Campbell ripped a two-run single up the middle, plating Jake Elston and Jared Cassella for a 10-7 lead.
Logan Mason finished off the Blue Jays in the bottom of the 11th, with a 1-2-3 inning, to pick up the win.
Mason, the Royals seventh pitcher of the game, entered in the bottom of the 10th with the bases loaded and one out and the game tied at 7. He proceeded to strikeout the Blue Jays’ Nos. 2 and 3 hitters on eight pitches to get the Royals out of the jam.
Campbell had three hits, including a triple, and three RBIs. TJ Pleban also had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs.
Casey and Pat Coyne had two hits apiece for the Royals.
Scranton (21-18) will play Catholic on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Catholic 6, Wilkes 3: Fourth-seeded Catholic (25-16) broke open a 3-3 game with three runs in the top of the ninth to send the top-seeded Colonels to the elimination bracket.
Wilkes (28-11) will play Elizabethtown in an elimination game Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
In the decisive ninth inning for Catholic, Matthew Fisher led off with a single up the middle and Jack Bateman was hit by a pitch. The big hit in the inning was a double to left-center by Steve Thomas. An infield single and bases-loaded walk also scored runs.
Trailing, 3-2, going to the bottom of the sixth, Wilkes tied the game when Jason Cambria singled to left and took second on an infield ground out. He took third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice bunt.
Jack Mathis, Devin Markert and Luke Spencer each had two doubles for the Colonels.
Wilkes used four pitchers with AJ Levanodski pitching the first six innings. Zachary Lloyd tossed two innings before Riley Jagger, who took the loss and Ethan Jezewski pitched in the ninth.
Keystone 6, Cairn 2: Keystone College kicked off the United East Conference Championship weekend with a 6-2 win over Cairn University on Friday afternoon at Bruggeworth Field in Edwardsville.
Giants’ stating pitcher Sean Brennan (9-0) went 8.2 innings with four strikeouts, scattering five hits and walking four.
Darren Hagan went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, Carlos Pascual and Nate Ewing each had two hits and Cooper Fesh had two RBIs.
Keystone (33-9) will face Penn State Harrisburg on Saturday at Christy Mathewson Field at noon.
