Baseball Swept by Redhawks
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona baseball took a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference losses on Wednesday afternoon at Stewart Athletic Field, as the Lions were swept in a doubleheader with La Roche University.
The Lions (17-11, 6-4 AMCC) lost game one 24-14, then fell 15-6 in game two.
Game One: La Roche 24, Penn State Altoona 14
La Roche (13-9, 6-2 AMCC) jumped out to a big lead in the top of the first and never looked back, overpowering the Lions in the first game of the doubleheader.
George Stiuso (Milford, NJ/Gill St. Bernard's) had a big game at the plate for Penn State Altoona, hitting his third and fourth home runs of the season. He went 2-for-3 with two homers, five RBI, two runs scored, and two walks. Stiuso's total of two home runs is tied for the most in a single game in Lions history.
Peter Jacobs (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills West) was 2-for-4 with his second home run of the season, three RBI, and two runs scored. Catcher Cumming (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.
Chase Clouser (Dublin, OH/Dublin Jerome) went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored. Stephen Schanne (Mantua, NJ/Clearview Regional) batted 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, and Clayton Hain (Schaefferstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Sawyer Kline (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) started on the mound and took the loss. Mitchell Carmody (Babylon, NY/Babylon) tossed three innings in relief, and Jaryd Palmer (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) pitched 3 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
La Roche plated 10 runs in the top of the first inning, including a pair of three-run home runs from Jay Novak and Philip Pieto.
Penn State Altoona answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, getting RBI singles from Cumming, Austin Anderson (Macungie, PA/Emmaus) and Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen), along with a run-scoring grounder by Hain.
But La Roche came back with three runs in the second, three more in the third, and four in the fourth to build a 20-4 advantage.
Clouser's RBI double to left-center plated a run in the bottom of the fourth for Penn State Altoona. The Lions put together a six-run bottom of the sixth, getting an RBI single from Clouser, a three-run homer to right by Jacobs, and a two-run homer to right by Stiuso.
But the Redhawks turned their nine-run lead into a 13-run lead in the top of the seventh, plating four more runs to make it 24-11.
The Lions' final three runs came on Stiuso's three-run home run to right field, his second long ball of the game.
Game Two: La Roche 15, Penn State Altoona 6
The Lions grabbed a lead in the second inning, but it was short-lived, as La Roche outscored Penn State Altoona 13-1 over the final seven innings of the game.
Hunter Breon (Boiling Springs, PA/Boiling Springs) went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season – a grand slam – along with a double. Schanne was also 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and Anderson batted 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Aaron Sharp (Freeburg, PA/Midd-West) started on the mound and pitched 6 2/3 innings, suffering the loss. Tyler Manger (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, giving up no earned runs.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Lions rallied for a five-run inning to take their first lead of the day. Cumming led off the frame with a home run to cut La Roche's lead to 2-1. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Breon hit a grand slam over the right field fence to put Penn State Altoona on top 5-2.
But the Redhawks responded with a five-run inning of their own, getting back into the lead in the top of the third. Troy Kifer's three-run double tied the game, and after a wild pitch, he scored on an error to put La Roche back in front. Austin Hoffman's RBI single to right made it 7-5.
Jackson Rodgers' RBI single in the fifth extended La Roche's lead to 8-5, and the Redhawks used a six-run top of the seventh to grab a commanding 14-5 advantage.
Clouser's RBI groundout in the bottom of the seventh got a run across for the Lions, but La Roche added another run in the eighth, going on to win game two by nine runs to secure the doubleheader sweep.
Penn State Altoona baseball travels for its next games, a doubleheader at AMCC opponent D'Youville College on Saturday, April 13 starting at 1:00 p.m.
