Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

FORT PIERCE, Fla.- The Immaculata baseball team got their season off to a great start on Sunday afternoon as they swept a doubleheader against Susquehanna (0-2) by winning the first game, 4-2, in extra innings before taking game two, 3-1.  The Mighty Macs (2-0) were playing their first of five doubleheaders in their Florida Coast Spring Training schedule in Fort Pierce, Florida.
 
In the first game, the Macs came back from a 2-0 deficit in their final at bat before winning in the ninth, and in game two, more late game heroics lifted IU to victory as they scored two runs in their half of the sixth inning to take the lead in a 1-1 game before holding on for the victory.
 
In game one, junior Dan Whalen threw five solid innings, giving up five hits and no earned runs while striking out three, and the bullpen of sophomore Kenny Anderson (W, 3 IP) and sophomore Ryan Blough (S, 1 IP) combined for four shutout innings and just one hit allowed.  Offensively, junior Mike Lascomb had two hits, including one double, and two runs scored and freshman Brad Misialek also had two hits in his collegiate debut.
 
Susquehanna got two unearned runs in the bottom of the first, but that would be all they would get all day as Whalen settled down getting two 1-2-3 innings and two innings with just one baserunner.  Trailing 2-0 much of the day, the Mighty Macs tried to get something going, but ran into some troubles on the basepaths to end a few rallies.  In the second, they had second and third with nobody out and were unable to score, and in the fourth, sophomore Rob Wallace (1-for-3, R) hit a one out double, but back-to-back fly outs ended the threat.
 
The score remained 2-0 until IU's last chance and they took advantage.  Lascomb doubled to right center and stole third and scored on a wild pitch.  Sophomore catcher Dom Ficca worked a walk and was pinch run for by freshman Adam Connor who made up for the baserunning errors earlier by advancing to second on a wild pitch, stealing third, and scoring on an overthrow by the catcher to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Anderson held Susquehanna off the board in the seventh and eighth allowing IU to score the go-ahead runs in the ninth.  Wallace walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on a single by Lascomb.  They would then move up a base on a walk by senior Matt Lawson (1-for-3) to load the bases with nobody out.  Connor hit a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run and freshman Connor Kerns got the first hit of his collegiate career to drive in Lascomb for the two-run lead with two outs.
 
Blough wrapped up the first save of his collegiate career by getting a strike out and groundout with the tying run on second base to seal IU's first win of the season, 4-2.
 
In game two, the Mighty Macs got a great effort from junior John Ryan (1-0) on the mound as he scattered five hits and surrendered just one run over six innings of work for the win.  Sophomore Howie Kalamets went 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while Kerns took his momentum from the first game by getting two more hits and a pair of RBIs, and Wallace added two hits.
 
Ryan worked around a lead-off single in the top of the first and erased a one-out single in the top of the second by inducing a double-play ball.  In the bottom of the second, Kalamets got his first hit with a double down the right field line and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore catcher Ryan Tecco (1-for-2, R, RBI).  Kerns hit a sacrifice fly down the right field line to make it a 1-0 game.
 
Ryan maintained the one-run lead in the third, but Susquehanna would tie it in the fourth on a one-out double.  It turned out to be Ryan's only blemish of the day as he retired the side in order in both the fifth and sixth innings.
 
The Macs took advantage of Ryan's great day on the mound to grab the lead in the bottom of the sixth.  Lascomb was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a single by Kalamets.  Both of them moved up a base to put two runners in scoring position on an error by the catcher, and Tecco delivered the clutch hit with a single to right center to score Lascomb as Kalamets was thrown out trying to score an insurance run.  With two outs, the Macs were able to get that insurance run on a double to left-center by Kerns that scored Tecco to give them a 3-1 lead.
 
Freshman Trevor O'Brien came on in the seventh and gave up a two-out double before getting a pop-out to end the game and notch his first collegiate save.
 
Immaculata will look to continue their good start when they play Elizabethtown tomorrow in a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m.