Lucas locks down

Former Schalick pitcher beats Salem CC in nightcap to give Dukes DH split, series win; Mighty Oaks’ Seitzinger goes distance in opener for first win

REGION XIX BASEBALL
Salem CC 7-3, RCSJ-Cumberland 1-8
RCSJ-Gloucester 10-19, Atlantic Cape 1-5
Northampton 12-12, Delaware County 9-1
Mercer 12-14, Delaware Tech 5-0
Sussex 6-10, Lackawanna 5-9
Morris at Raritan Valley
Montgomery 17-13, Bergen 7-1
Middlesex 15-6, Brookdale 13-3

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

VINELAND – When Lucas D’Agostino pitched at Schalick he used to relish the opportunities to go against the other teams in the county. Now that he’s in college, he was just as stoked to go against the junior college team from his county – and in a pretty big situation.

D’Agostino drew the start for RCSJ-Cumberland in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader with Salem CC and tasked with closing out weekend series. He answered the call, going six innings and the Dukes beat the Mighty Oaks 8-3 to split the twinbill after Salem won the opener 7-1 and win the three-game Region 19 series.

The freshman right-hander threw 113 pitches in his second-longest outing of the year, giving up four hits, two unearned runs and striking out a career-tying eight for his second win of the season. He gave up a run in the first and one in the sixth. After the first run, he allowed only two runners to reach scoring position over the next three innings and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth with an inning-ending strikeout.

“It was cold, it was a little rough to start, but I ended up putting pitches where I wanted them and got lucky a couple times,” he said. “I laid a couple pitches in there that probably should’ve been hit pretty well, but other than that I feel like I hit my spots pretty well and kept them a little off-balanced, too.”

The Mighty Oaks reached him for a run in the first when he hit Jason LeBold, LeBold stole second and scored on Tyler Hacker’s single. But he wasn’t too concerned. His teammates rolled out the bats like he hoped in the bottom of the inning and gave him the lead to protect the rest of the game.

The Dukes put five up in the bottom of the inning off Salem starter Seth Bogan. Cole Shover scored on a wild pitch, Tyler Schoppe drilled a three-run homer and Nolan Murawski later delivered an RBI single.

Schoppe have five RBIs in the nightcap, Stover scored three runs and Kory Jenkins went 3-for-4 to complete a 7-for-11 series.

“Our offense battled back and put up a five spot in the bottom of the first to kind of set the tone,” D’Agostino said. “I thought that was a very big part of the game.

“The cold was tough today, but I think we battled and we locked in mentally for Game 2. Game 1 got out of our hands a little bit, but it was very impressive with my offense to get beat a little bit and then come back and set the tone for the next game.”

They gave D’Agostino two more runs to work with in the second on a bases-loaded walk to Schoppe and Chase Montgomery’s RBI single, and another in the third on another bases-loaded walk to Schoppe.

Salem won the opener to square the series behind a 114-pitch complete game from sophomore Pat Seitzinger and sophomore Jay Barber’s first college homer.

Seitzinger gave up five hits, walked seven and struck out two to earn his first win of the season and lower his ERA to 6.23. The only run he allowed was Chase Montgomery’s one-out homer in the second.

The Mighty Oaks answered the blast with two runs in the third to take the lead. Cliff Wysinger tied the game with an RBI double and J.J. Pankowski scored the go-ahead run from third when he beat the throw home on Tyler Hacker’s grounder to short.

They extended the lead with three in the sixth on Colin McLaughlin’s RBI single, a run-scoring error and Pankowski’s sacrifice fly. Barber’s homer in the seventh brought the final margin.

Barber, Wysinger and Roman Hernandez all had two hits in the game.

Salem CC	002	003	2-	7	10	0
RCSJ-Cumberland	010	000	0-	1	5	1

Salem CC	100	001	1-	3	5	3
RCSJ-Cumberland	521	000	x-	8	8	6

Region XIX Baseball Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
RCSJ-Gloucester	13-1	16-4	13-1
RCSJ-Cumberland	10-2	18-4-1	7-2
Middlesex	8-2	15-6	4-1
Northampton	7-2	13-7
Brookdale	7-6	12-7	6-4
SALEM CC	7-6	12-15	4-4
Camden	5-5	8-8	3-5
Montgomery	4-4	4-4
Bergen	4-7	5-13	4-7
Ocean	3-6	6-9	3-6
Atlantic Cape	2-8	2-8	2-8
Union	1-12	2-12	0-9
Delaware County	0-10	0-10