Pictured above: From left, Susquehanna’s Colton Stone, William Marcy and Travis Rooney. (Tom Robinson Photo)
By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
MOOSIC – Colton Stone worked out of early trouble, then held top-seeded MMI Prep hitless over the final five innings May 29 to lead Susquehanna to its first District 2 baseball title with a 2-0 victory in the Class A championship game at PNC Field.
Stone struck out eight in a three-hit shutout as the Sabers, who lost 10 of 11 games between April 12 and May 12, produced their second straight playoff win to improve to 5-14 overall on the season.
The win puts Susquehanna in Monday’s 4:30 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament opener against District 4 champion Northeast Bradford (9-10).
“Later on in the season, the bats started working,” Stone said. “Our fielding got tremendously better from the start.
“Early in the season, we only got one chance on the field before we started playing, so it was tough, but we battled through.”
Stone battled through the early innings of the title game, stranding runners on first and third in the first inning and two more runners in the second. He finished strong, retiring the last nine, four of them by strikeouts, including two straight to end the fifth inning with a runner on third base.
“I was trying to elevate the fastball, get them to get under it and pop it right up,” said Stone, who induced nine flyball outs in the game. “Curveball, I want to keep in the dirt, get it low. Hanging curves are never good.”
The Sabers did not have a hit until the fifth inning, but by then they were already in the lead.
Three walks and an error produced a run in the third inning.
William Marcy drew a bases-loaded walk in the third to drive in Alexander Bishop.
Marcy then singled with two out in the fifth to drive in Tyler Rockwell, who had two of Susquehanna’s four hits.
Matthew Callender had the other hit.
Andrew Burns, Josh Drobnock and Nick Pangages had the hits for MMI Prep.
Burns and Drobnock combined on a four-hitter in the loss.
Neither team had an extra-base hit.
