Thomas Overpowers Lions 10-3

Thomas Overpowers Lions 10-3

FOUR CORNERS, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team returned to action on Tuesday afternoon, suffering a 10-3 loss to Thomas College in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational at Northeast Regional Park.

The Lions (3-4) led 3-1 through five-and-a-half innings, but Thomas (1-4) surged into the lead by scoring a total of nine runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.

Adam Wildasin (Hershey, PA/Hershey) started on the mound and finished with a no decision, going 5 1/3 innings, striking out four batters, and surrendering two runs. Alex Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) took the loss after working 2/3 of an inning, while Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) tossed 1/3 of an inning and Collin Hickey (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) worked 1 2/3 innings.

Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) went 2-for-2 at the plate with a run batted in and a walk, and Alex Hlivia (State College, PA/State College) was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Logan Margroum (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) was 1-for-3 with a solo home run, and Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Penn State Altoona started the game off by picking up a run in the top of the first. Grayson McClain (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) led off with a single, moved up to third on an error, and then scored on Chamberlain's sacrifice fly to right.

Thomas tied the game in the bottom of the second, after Devin Grindle drew a walk and came around to later score on a wild pitch.

Penn State Altoona grabbed the lead back in the fifth, when Carey's single drove Garrett Alauzen (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) in from third to put the Lions up 2-1. Penn State Altoona added to its lead in the sixth, when Margroum's two-out solo shot to left made it 3-1.

But Thomas tied the score with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth, when Grindle's two-run homer evened the score at 3-3. The Terriers opened the floodgates in the bottom of the seventh, getting six runs across, helped by three home runs. Matt Seymour scored on a balk to give Thomas the lead, and two-run homers by Tommy Smith and Ryan Kappelman, along with a Grindle solo home run, increased the Terriers' advantage to 9-3.

Thomas added one more run to its total in the eighth, when Kappelman's RBI single up the middle made it 10-3.

Penn State Altoona baseball heads into its final off day of the week tomorrow, Wednesday, March 9. The Lions return to action on Thursday, March 10 with a single, nine-inning game against Lakeland University. First pitch at Northeast Regional Park is set for 9:00 a.m.