VINELAND, NJ - The Northampton baseball team took game one of the 3-game Region 19 series over #8 RCSJ-Cumberland, 8-6, on Friday afternoon at the Dukes Baseball Complex.
The nationally ranked Dukes took an early, 1-0, lead over the visiting Spartans with a run in the bottom of the first inning. The Spartans jumped ahead, 4-1, plating 4 runs in the top of the 4th inning, highlighted by RBI singles from
Drew Mulligan (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Carroll) and
Josh Brancy (Sparta. NJ/Sparta (NJ)).
The Dukes answered with a run in the bottom of half of the inning and after three innings of baseball, the Spartans were ahead, 4-2. The Spartans extended their lead to, 5-2, only to see the Dukes battle right back to tie the score, 5-5, after 5 innings.
The Spartans were able to break a, 6-6, deadlock in the top of the 7th inning when
Max Landis (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in a run and
Patrick Kiefner (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to score
Josh Brancy (Sparta. NJ/Sparta (NJ)), giving the Spartans back the lead, 8-6.
Juan Cruz (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) picked up the win in relief of starter
Jared Diefenbach (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg (NJ)) and improved to (4-1) on the year, Cruz worked the final 5 innings allowing only 1 run on two hits and striking out 5.
"Good battle today and nice to get the series started with a win," stated Spartans Head Coach
Adrian Yaguez, "It was back and forth today and we did enough to pull ahead and get the victory. We still have areas we need to clean up but I was pleased with how our squad came out and competed today. Tomorrow will be another battle and we need to come out and compete and play good baseball."
John Pushkar (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) was 2-3 with a double a stolen base and 3 runs scored and
Drew Mulligan (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Carroll) was 2-4 with 2 RBI.
Josh Brancy (Sparta. NJ/Sparta (NJ)) was 2-4 with a run scored and 1 RBI and
Matthew Tankred (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) and
Danny Qualteria (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) both had two hits. The Spartans had 12 hits in the series opening win.
Northampton improves to 18-11 overall and 11-5 in Region 19.
RCSJ-Cumberland is now 19-8-1 overall and 11-6 in the Region.
The Spartans and Dukes will continue their 3-game Region 19 series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for 12pm at Spartan Park.
