Lions Split Senior Day Twinbill With Hilbert

Lions Split Senior Day Twinbill With Hilbert

ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team celebrated its two senior players during a doubleheader split with Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Hilbert College on Saturday afternoon at Stewart Athletic Field.

The Lions recognized senior catcher Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) and senior pitcher Austin Miller (Orbisonia, PA/Southern Huntingdon) for their collegiate baseball careers during a pregame ceremony.

Penn State Altoona (11-17, 3-7 AMCC), playing its first games on campus since March 21, picked up a 3-1, extra-innings win in game one. Hilbert (14-16, 6-6 AMCC) answered with a 7-2 victory in game two.

Game One: Penn State Altoona 3, Hilbert 1 (Final/9 innings)

The Lions got a great start on the mound from Kyle Glass (Imler, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) and used a walk-off two-run home run from Garrett Alauzen (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Glass recorded his fourth win of the season while tossing his team-best sixth complete game of the spring. The right-hander pitched all nine innings, allowing just one run on three hits and a walk, and he fanned a career-high 10 batters. Glass took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, before it was broken up on a two-out double.

Alauzen went 2-for-5 with the game-winning two-run blast, his second home run of the season. Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) went 3-for-4, and Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Penn State Altoona secured an early lead by getting the game's first run across in the bottom of the second. Hillard led off the frame with a double to right, and then scored one batter later on Logan Margroum's (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) RBI single to center.

The Lions made their 1-0 lead stand up until the top of the sixth, when Hilbert ruined Glass' no-hit bid and also spoiled the shutout. With two outs, the Hawks got their first hit of the day on a Jairo Santos double to right-center. John Riviere-Vejas followed with a double into the left-center gap, scoring Santos to tie the score at 1-1.

The score remained the same through seven innings, and the game proceeded to extras.

Penn State Altoona threatened in the bottom of the eighth, after a Margroum walk and Chamberlain single put two runners aboard for the Lions with two outs. But Hilbert escaped the inning unscathed to send the game into the ninth inning.

The Lions capitalized on their next opportunity, however. In the bottom of the ninth, Carey doubled to left-center to put the go-ahead run on base with two outs. Alauzen followed by hitting a pitch over the left field fence, propelling Penn State Altoona to a 3-1 win in the first game of the twinbill.

Game Two: Hilbert 7, Penn State Altoona 2

In game two, Penn State Altoona took another early lead but was unable to close things out, as Hilbert scored six runs in the final two innings to come back and deal the Lions a 7-2 defeat.

Carey went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and Alauzen was 1-for-3 with one run batted in, a run scored, and a walk. Timothy Richard (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Tristin Lockett (Mifflin County, PA/Mifflin County) got the game two start at pitcher and finished with a no decision, after tossing four innings and yielding one run on four hits and three walks. He struck out six batters.

Cole Brechbill (Hagerstown, MD/North Hagerstown) suffered the loss after pitching two innings in relief, and Adam Wildasin (Hershey, PA/Hershey) also pitched one inning out of the bullpen.

Penn State Altoona carried some momentum over from its game one win by scoring a pair in the bottom of the first to claim an early advantage. After Carey's one-out double, Alauzen's RBI single to right field put the Lions on the board. Hillard followed with an infield single to advance Alauzen to third, and Richard's fielder's choice plated Alauzen to make it 2-0.

But the Lions were unable to do any further damage the rest of the game, stranding eight runners over the remainder of the contest.

Hilbert closed the gap to 2-1 in the top of the third on a two-out RBI triple to right-center by Patrick Whelan. The Hawks tied things up in the sixth on a two-out solo home run to right by Jackson Choinski.

The visitors put together a five-run seventh to surge into the lead. Thomas Evans' two-run double put Hilbert in front, and Whelan followed with an RBI single down the right field line to make it 5-2. Later in the inning, a two-run homer to right from Misael Guzman Caez increased the Hawks' lead to 7-2.

Penn State Altoona baseball returns to action tomorrow, Sunday, April 24, facing AMCC opponent Pitt-Greensburg in a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. The matchup is a pair of home games for the Lions, but the location has been shifted to Mount Aloysius College's Calandra-Smith Field in Cresson.