NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The University of Scranton baseball team (30-12) dropped a 6-0 decision to the North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops (34-11) in NCAA Regional action on Friday afternoon at Captains Park in Newport News.
The Royals will now take on Immaculata in an elimination game on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. as the Mighty Macs dropped a 3-2 contest in 15 innings to Christopher Newport in the first game of the day on Friday.
NC Wesleyan got on the board with a run in the top of the first as they took advantage of two walks and a hit by pitch which led to the game's first run on a sac fly. The Battling Bishops then tacked on three in the third including a two-run double from Jackson Hobbs that extended the lead to 4-0.
Scranton loaded the bases with one away in the bottom half of the third, but NC Wesleyan's Cord Butler was able to escape the jam with a pair of strikeouts.
Graduate student right-hander Daniel Johnson took the loss for the Royals as he allowed five runs on five hits to go along with three walks and four strikeouts over 4 2/3 IP.
Butler got the win for NC Wesleyan as he allowed three hits while walking two and fanning 13 to go along with two hit batters in a complete game effort.
A quartet of senior relievers turned in strong outings for the Royals in lefty Mike Fox who tossed a scoreless inning, righty George Sengos allowed one run and struck out three in 2.0 IP, lefty Matt Roda retired the only batter he faced and righty Johnny Flannigan fired a scoreless ninth.
Sophomore Aidan Casey tallied a pair of singles on the day.