Lions’ Rally Falls Short in 5-4 Loss
DAVENPORT, Fla. – A late rally by the Penn State Altoona baseball team came up short on Thursday afternoon at Northeast Regional Park, where the Lions suffered a 5-4 loss to the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
UMD (3-5) worked its way out to a 5-1 lead through six-and-a-half innings, before Penn State Altoona (5-5) closed the gap to 5-4 in the eighth. But the Lions stranded a total of four runners in the eighth and ninth innings, and the Corsairs escaped with a one-run win.
Five different Penn State Altoona hitters finished with a two-hit performance.
Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall) was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored, and Benjamin Ettien (Media, PA/Penncrest) went 2-for-4 with his first collegiate home run.
Harrison Knaupe (Smyrna, DE/Smyrna) and Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) both went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) was 2-for-5.
Jimmy Mento (Gates County, NC/Gates County) made a solid start on the pitching mound but took the loss. In six innings, the right-hander allowed just one earned run while limiting UMD to three walks and two hits, and he also struck out three batters. Michael Labisi (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) tossed three innings out of the bullpen and yielded a pair of runs while striking out two.
The Corsairs plated the game's first run in the top of the first, when a Chance Checca sacrifice fly to left gave UMD a 1-0 lead.
Penn State Altoona broke through for a run in the bottom of the fourth with one swing of the bat, as Ettien's one-out solo homer over the left-field fence evened the score at 1-1.
But UMD answered quickly, getting two runs across in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead, helped by a pair of costly Penn State Altoona errors. A throwing error let Cooper Wixon score from second to put the Corsairs back on top, and Brett Baker scored later in the frame on a two-out fielding error to make it 3-1.
UMD extended its advantage to 5-1 in the seventh, getting a two-run single to center from Matt Tempone to provide a four-run cushion.
Penn State Altoona's bats heated up in the bottom half of the seventh, when the Lions produced two runs on four hits. Chelli led off with a double, and one batter later, Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) sent an RBI single into right field. Ingold followed that with a base hit, and after a fly out, Rauch's RBI single to right center trimmed the UMD lead to 5-3.
The Lions carried their momentum into the eighth. After a Chelli two-out double to left center, he advanced to third base on a balk, then scored when Knaupe delivered an RBI single to right. Hlivia drew a walk to put two runners aboard, but the Corsairs ended the threat with a strikeout.
Penn State Altoona brought the potential tying and go-ahead runs to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, as Fred Guarino IV (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) drew a one-out walk, and Aidan Donovan (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) reached on an infield single with two outs. But UMD got another big strikeout to force the Lions to leave a pair, and the Corsairs nabbed a tight victory from Penn State Altoona.
Penn State Altoona baseball returns to action tomorrow, Friday, March 14, when it faces Bowdoin College in a doubleheader at Northeast Regional Park. Game one of the twinbill is set to start at 3:30 p.m.
