In a highly anticipated meeting between two national championship qualifiers from last spring, the RCGC baseball team came up short against host Northampton County Sunday.
No. 5 ranked Northampton earned two huge wins in the national showdown against the Runners, sweeping No. 3 RCGC 5-0 in Game 1 and 13-10 in Game 2.
In Game 1, the Spartans scored two runs in the bottom of the first thanks to RBI singles by Tyler Horvath and Corey Stoufer, and winning pitcher. Noah Webster shut down the Runners with a nine-inning complete game. In Game 2, the two teams engaged in a slugfest. The Runners scored four in the top of the first, but could not hold the lead in suffering a second loss on the day.
The sweep moves Northampton to 25-4 overall and 7-0 in Region XIX. RCGC falls to 23-5, 10-3 in the Region.
Coach Rob Valli's Roadrunners enjoyed much more success on Saturday when they swept Union County 34-2 in Game 1 and 11-5 in Game 2.
Catcher Alex Gattinelli smashed a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 1 for a 2-0 lead -- and the runs continued to pile up throughout the afternoon as the Runners dominated.
The Runners begin a busy week with a home game versus Atlantic Cape on Tuesday followed by a road game at Harford CC (MD) on Wednesday.