Game 1 Box Score  Game 2 Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior John Mentzer broke his second RBI record in three days and the Lebanon Valley College baseball team used a potent offensive attack to complete a three-game sweep of Susquehanna University, winning 9-2 and 10-5 Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at McGill Park.

Lebanon Valley (19-16, 14-7 CC) had their Commonwealth Conference playoff berth clinched on Friday with Juniata’s 4-2 win over Albright, and will now wait for the remainder of the Commonwealth schedule to play out before learning its playoff seeding and first-round opponent. Due to rainouts, two Commonwealth makeup games will be played on Sunday with an additional makeup game scheduled for Monday.

LVC will finish first or second in the final conference standings. The Dutchmen will finish first if Moravian defeats Elizabethtown on Sunday, but will wind up second with an E-town victory.

With a two-run single in the first inning of Game Two, Mentzer broke Lebanon Valley’s career RBIs record of 87 held by Steve Anspach ’02. On Thursday, he set LVC’s single-season RBIs record. Mentzer now has 90 RBIs for his career and 46 this season.

Mentzer also hit safely in both games and pushed his hitting streak, which began on March 31, to 21 games.

After banging out 16 hits against Susquehanna (9-24-1, 4-16-1 CC) on Thursday, the Dutchmen continued their torrid hitting on Saturday with 29 more hits. Lebanon Valley scored a run in all but three of their 12 innings in the doubleheader.

The Dutchmen’s 14-7 Commonwealth Conference record equals the team’s best conference mark since the 2002 season.

Lebanon Valley finished 7-1 at home in Commonwealth Conference games this season. The Dutchmen won 13 of their final 15 conference games after starting 1-5 in the Commonwealth.

Freshman Grant Wiest enjoyed an outstanding day at the plate, going 5-for-7 with five runs scored, three RBIs, and three doubles. Classmate Charlie Parker finished 4-for-5 with three runs while senior Dan Kelly was 4-for-8 with three RBIs.

In the opener, sophomore Nick Faria scattered nine hits while tossing his second complete game of the season. Classmate Mike Snyder threw five innings to earn the victory in the nightcap.

The Valley got on the scoreboard right away in the first game, when Mentzer scored sophomore Brandon Thompson in the first inning on a hard-hit single down the leftfield line, as he tied Anspach’s career RBIs mark.

The Dutchmen erupted for six runs over the next two innings to extend their lead to 7-0. In the second, an RBI-single from Joe Soupik and a two-run double from Kelly made it 4-0. Thompson followed up with a two-run double of his own in front of an RBI-single from junior Corey Lamoureux in the third.

The Crusaders reached Faria for one run on three hits in the fourth, but Wiest doubled and scored on an error in the fifth as the Valley made it 8-1.

A pair of doubles from John Lunardi and Chris Price in the sixth inning gave Susquehanna its final run. Wiest completed the scoring with an RBI-single in the sixth.

Faria (3-1) needed only 72 pitches for his complete game. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Susquehanna starter Jon Martin (1-5) was touched for seven earned runs on 10 hits over three innings.

Every Lebanon Valley starter had a hit in Game One, with two apiece coming from Thompson, Kelly, senior Richie Schwartz, Wiest, and Parker.

The Dutchmen continued their offensive showcase early in the nightcap, spotting Snyder a 10-0 lead after four innings. After Mentzer’s record-breaking two-run single, Weist added an RBI-single to make it 3-0 at the end of the first. Kelly made it 4-0 with an RBI-triple, then scored on a Mentzer double as LVC’s lead grew to 5-0 after two.

Wiest, Parker, and Lamoureux all drove in runs during the Valley’s three-run third before Soupik capped the Valley’s scoring for the day with a two-run homer down the rightfield line.

Susquehanna made it a 10-4 game after plating four runs on five hits and two errors in the fifth. But sophomore Kyle Caruthers threw a scoreless sixth before Wiest came on to pitch the seventh, allowing one run on two hits.

Wiest went 3-for-4 in Game Two while Kelly, Mentzer, and Parker all had two hits.

Snyder (3-1) won his third start in a row, allowing four runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out three.

John Lunardi (1-4) started and was charged with the loss in Game Two for Susquehanna.

Lebanon Valley plays its final home game of the season on Sunday, when it hosts Delaware Valley College at 1 p.m. in a non-conference clash.

[Photo - Freshman Grant Wiest]

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