NANTICOKE, Pa. - The 7th ranked Northampton Baseball team clinched their 5th EPAC Championship in six seasons with an 8-2 victory over Luzerne County Community College on Thursday afternoon at Sullivan Field. 

Angel Lopez (Santurce, PR/Perkiomen School) opened the scoring for Northampton in the 4th inning with a solo homerun, his 9th of the season.  Luzerne tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the 5th, but the Spartans scored 4 runs in the 6th and 3 in the 7th to pull away.  Colton Hooker (Warrington, PA/Upper Moreland) hit a 2-run homerun in the 6th and Cody Herestofa (Brookhaven, PA/Sun Valley) added a 2-run single to plate Northampton's 4 runs. 

Hooker hit his 2nd homerun of the game in the 7th, blasting a 3-run shot to give the Spartans an 8-1 lead after 7 and a half. Luzerne added a run in the bottom of the 7th and both teams went scoreless in the 8th and 9th for the 8-2 final. 

Hooker finished 2 for 4 with 5 RBI, Lopez was 1 for 2 with 3 stolen bases, Franklin Ramirez (Reading, PA/Berks Catholic) finished 3 for 5 and Herestofa was 1 for 4 with 2 RBI to lead Northampton.

Colton Langworthy (Alpha, NJ/Phillipsburg (NJ)) got the win on the mound, improving to 4-0.  Langworthy went 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 6.  Starter Zach Conley (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury) got 2 innings of work, allowing 1 hit and striking out 3, Tyler Caraway (Riegelsville, PA/Palisades) and Liam Grande (Trappe, PA/Perkiomen Valley) each got an inning of work as the pitching staff combined to allow 7 hits and strike out 11. 

The win, the 14th straight for Northampton, improves their record to 21-3 overall, 9-0 in Region XIX and 8-0 in the EPAC. 

Luzerne falls to 8-6 overall, 5-6 in Region XIX and 5-2 in conference play. 

The 7th ranked Spartans now prepare for a huge weekend as they travel to 2nd ranked RCGC on Saturday for a doubleheader before returning home on Sunday to host 4th ranked Brookdale in a twinbill, scheduled to start at noon.