BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton baseball team took down Atlantic Cape Community College, 14-4, to open their Region 19 series on Friday afternoon at Spartan Park.
Juan Cruz (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) improved to 5-1 on the mound, fanning 5 in 4 innings of work, allowing only 3 hits.
Ben Mostosky (Saylorsburg, PA/Pleasant Valley) had 1 inning of scoreless relief and
Ben Warner (Alexandria, VA/Alexandria City (VA)) pitched the final 2 frames allowing 1 hit with three strikeouts.
The Northampton offense got going early and jumped out to a, 5-0, lead after two innings, extending the lead to, 10-3, after the bottom of the fourth. The Spartans were able to plate a pair of runs in the 5th and put the game away with the walk-off win with two more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning on a 2 run single by
Lukas Cokely (Montrose, PA/Montrose) for the, 14-4, run rule victory.
"Good way to start the series," explained Spartans Head Coach Adrian Yaguez, "The goal is to always try and win the first one and this now puts us in control going into tomorrow. I was also pleased again with our offense and with the way our pitchers have been competing. All good signs as we hope to keep moving forward and prepare for the stretch run,"
Matthew Tankred (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh)Â again set the tone for the Spartans on offense, going 3-4 with a double and 2 runs scored, while knocking in 4 runs.
Josh Brancy (Sparta. NJ/Sparta (NJ)) was 2-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI and
Drew Mulligan (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Carroll) was 2-3 with 3 runs scored and a stolen base.
The Spartans broke open a, 5-3, game with 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to put the game out of reach.
Danny Qualteria (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) was hit by a pitch and
Drew Mulligan (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Carroll) reached base on a bunt single.
Kyle Stoner (Burlington Township (NJ)/Burlington Township (NJ)) drew a walk to load the bases.
Matthew Tankred (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) hit a hard single to left field to score both Qualteria and Mulligan and
Josh Brancy (Sparta. NJ/Sparta (NJ)) followed with a triple to score Stoner and Tankred to highlight the big inning. Brancy later scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by
John Pushkar (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua).
Northampton improves to 22-12 overall and 13-6 in Region 19.
Atlantic Cape slips to 3-20 overall and 3-20 in the Region.
The Spartans and Buccaneers will continue their Region 19 series in Mays Landing, New Jersey on Saturday when the Spartans travel to the Buccaneers Baseball Complex for a doubleheader scheduled for 12pm.
