Stallone's Blasts Help Scranton To Series Sweep

SCRANTON, Pa. - Freshman Chris Stallone (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) belted a two-run double and a three-run home run to power The University of Scranton past the United States Merchant Marine Academy, 9-4, in Landmark Conference action Sunday afternoon at Connell Park.

Junior Chris Psihoules (Washington Township, N.J./Westwood) and sophomore Chris Bligh (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Preparatory) finished with two hits apiece and sophomore Justin Champagne (Mt. Bethel, Pa./Bangor Area) drove in two runs as the Royals improved to 24-12 and finish their first season in the Landmark Conference with an 11-7 mark.

Senior pitcher Tim Reiser (Marlborough, Conn./RHAM) improved to 5-0 on the season by striking out four and allowing just six hits and three earned runs in six innings. Relievers Karl Weiss (Clifton, N.J./Don Bosco Preparatory) and Kyle Fox (Scranton, Pa./Bishop Hannan) shut down the Mariners the rest of the way by not allowing a base hit over the final three innings.

USMMA, which fell to 11-22 overall and 2-16 in the conference, was led by sophomore catcher Jeff Schwind (Waldwick, N.J./Bergen County Academies), who had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs, and senior L. James McCollum (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino), who drove in a run with a double in the third inning and scored a run.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, when senior Kevin Johnson (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) doubled, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on an infield single by Champagne. After the Mariners scored twice in the third to take the lead, Stallone keyed a three-run rally with a double down the left-field line to give Scranton the lead for good. In the fourth, Champagne hit a sacrifice fly to score a run and Stallone followed with a shot to center field for his second home run of the season to extend Scranton's lead to 8-2.

The Mariners cut the gap to 8-4 on Schwind's two-run double in the sixth before Weiss and Fox took over in the final three innings to shut the door. Psihoules drove in a run with his eighth double of the season in the eighth inning to set the final score. Scranton, which finished with nine hits, also received a double from senior designated hitter Andrew Outhouse (Croton Falls, N.Y./North Salem).

Bligh has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games to raise his team-leading batting average to .463. He has also smashed the Royals' single-season record for RBI with 49 (to date), breaking the previous record of 39 established by Psihoules last year.

The Royals, currently in the midst of a seven-game winning streak, will close out the regular-season this Tuesday and Wednesday, April 29-30, against former Freedom Conference rivals Wilkes University and Kings College on the road, respectively.

Scranton will enter the Landmark Conference tournament as the number four seed and take on top seeded Juniata College this Friday, May 2, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The other semifinal game in the double-elimination format will be Susquehanna University against Catholic University. The tournament will conclude either Saturday or Sunday.

The Royals will be making their first conference post-season tournament appearance since 1997.