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It's not a coincidence that in the first year that the Lycoming College baseball team had a true home field since the first ballgame was played by the school back in 1890 that the team will also make its first appearance in postseason play.
Lycoming enters the Landmark Conference Championship as the No. 5 seed and opening the double-elimination tournament with a 1:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 6, against fourth-seeded Catholic at Patriot Park North in Fairfax, Va.
The winner advances to face top-seeded Wilkes (28-10 overall, 19-5 Landmark) at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 9, while the loser will face the loser of the 11 a.m. Friday game between No. 3 Scranton (20-18 overall, 15-9 Landmark) and No. 2 Elizabethtown (27-11 overall, 19-5 Landmark) at 6 p.m. on Friday at Penn Medicine Park in Lancaster.
The Warriors (21-19 overall, 12-12 Landmark) finished third in the Landmark Conference with a .293 batting average and fourth with a 5.28 ERA, drastic improvements from the 2024 squad which hit .233 and posted a 5.92 ERA.
Senior Danny DeLucas became the first Warrior since the program was restarted in 2023 to hit better than .400, posting a .416 average while setting program records with 62 hits and 37 runs. Junior Brody Lindsey led the Landmark Conference with 11 homers and finished third with 42 RBI.
Sophomore Eric MacCluen, junior A.J. Llorente (a Montoursville graduate)) (.333/3/21) and junior Sean Perkins (.307/5/24) all also hit better than .300 for the team.
Llorente also led the pitching staff, as he tossed 51 innings and posting a 4-2 record with a 3.88 ERA, striking out 37 and walking 11. Junior Jake Wilber won a school-record five games, posting a 5-4 mark with a 6.65 ERA in 47.1 innings.
The bullpen has been paced by junior Joel Inman who notched a 4-1 mark and a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings and sophomore closer Grayson Rinker, a Montoursville graduate, who was second in the Landmark with eight saves to go with a 2.50 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 18 innings.
Catholic (23-16 overall, 14-10 Landmark) finished fifth in the league with a .286 batting average and third with a 4.75 ERA. Stephen Thomas led the team with a .376 average and 50 runs scored and Mitchel Johnson added 10 homers and 39 RBI. Craig Bozak had a 2.88 ERA and a 5-0 record and Sam Fairhurst notched a 2.98 to go with a 3-1 record to pace the pitching staff.
Catholic swept the weekend series on April 26-27, winning the first two games, 10-4, before outlasting the Warriors, 9-7, in the finale.