Eagles Take Game Two Via Walk-Off to Nab Split With SU

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: May 8, 2021

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata baseball team got the split against visiting Susquehanna, losing 8-2 before winning 5-4 on Isaac Maclay’s (Belleville, Pa. / Mifflin County High School) walk-off triple on a wet Saturday afternoon at Langdon-Goodale Field.

Game one saw the River Hawks score two runs in the first, one in the second, and another in the third as they leaped out to a 4-0 lead.

Joshua Gery (Pottstown, Pa. / Pottstown Senior High School) was the first Eagle to reach first, as he drew a leadoff walk in the third. Ryan McClain’s (Hughesville, Pa. / Hughesville)’s leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth was the first hit for JC in the game. He advanced to third on Maclay’s groundout to short, and Dakotah Snyder (Lewisburg, Pa. / Lewisburg) sent him home with an RBI-single to right-center. =

Raab got JC within two with a solo homer to left-center in the seventh, but that was the last time the Eagles would score. SU would go on to score four more runs in the ninth to complete the scoreline.

Game two got off to a much better start for the Blue and Gold. McClain drew a leadoff walk, and two batters later, he scored on Snyder’s triple down the right-field line. Jake Swank (Portage, Pa. / Portage) got Snyder home on his ground out to short as JC led 2-0 after one.

The pitchers traded zeros through the next three innings before the River Hawks broke through, scoring three in the top of the fifth to make it 3-2. In the bottom of the inning, Maclay hit a ball that just missed the outstretched glove of the SU right-fielder for an RBI triple to knot things at 3-3.

In the top of the sixth, SU went back ahead on a solo homer to left-center. JC couldn’t find a tying run in the sixth, and Dominic Hoyle (Woodbridge, Va. / Garfield) went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh as JC needed one to tie and two to win, heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Evan Mock (Mifflin County, Pa / McVeytown) got things started with a single to left, and McClain followed with a single to right-center. This set the stage for Maclay’s 1-0 walk-off triple to right to get JC the win.

The win ensures the Eagles will finish no lower than fifth in the Landmark, which means they avoid the play-in game. This will be the team’s best finish in the Landmark since 2011, when they finished fifth.

The Eagles will play at Elizabethtown twice tomorrow to close the regular season. The first pitch is at 11:30.