Baseball Loses Pair in Florida Opener
AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team opened its week in Florida with two losses to Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday at Lake Myrtle Park.
The Lions (1-3) suffered a 5-4 loss to RIT (5-1) in game one of the doubleheader, and Penn State Altoona lost 7-3 in game two.
Game One: RIT 5, Penn State Altoona 4
The Lions dug themselves out of an early hole, trailing 4-0 after the first inning. But RIT plated the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth and held Penn State Altoona off the scoreboard in the seventh to pull out the win.
Logan Margroum (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored for Penn State Altoona, while Garrett Alauzen (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk.
Tristin Lockett (Mifflin County, PA/Mifflin County) got the start on the mound for Penn State Altoona and finished with a no decision, tossing four innings and yielding three earned runs. Adam Wildasin (Hershey, PA/Hershey) pitched two innings in relief and surrendered one run.
RIT got four runs across in the bottom of the first inning. Ian Libby scored on a wild pitch to open the scoring, and Nate Kistler came home from third base on a throwing error. John Bagley's RBI single to right-center increased the Tigers' lead to 3-0, and a Lion fielding error allowed Maxx Countryman to score to give RIT a four-run advantage.
Penn State Altoona answered with three runs in the top of the second. Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) delivered an RBI double to right-center, and Alauzen scored on Alex Hlivia's (State College, PA/State College) sacrifice fly to make it a two-run game. Grayson McClain's (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) RBI single up the middle trimmed the Penn State Altoona deficit to one, 4-3.
The Lions tied the game in the top of the fourth when Hlivia led off with a base hit and later scored on Jake Hillard's (State College, PA/State College) groundout to third.
The score remained 4-4 until RIT recorded the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, when Chris Reilly's two-out RBI single to right field gave the Tigers a 5-4 advantage. Penn State Altoona got two runners aboard in the top of the seventh, but RIT held the Lions scoreless to end game on in their favor.
Game Two: RIT 7, Penn State Altoona 3
The Lions again found themselves in a tie game in the late stages of the contest, but RIT pulled away by scoring four runs in the final two innings.
Anthony Iannizzi (Leesburg, VA/Heritage) had two of Penn State Altoona's five hits, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Hillard, McClain and Phaly Moravek (Leesburg, VA/Tuscarora) also had one hit apiece for the Lions.
Kyle Glass (Imler, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) pitched a complete game in his second appearance of the season on the mound, going seven innings and being saddled with the loss
Hillard's RBI single to center in the bottom of the first gave Penn State Altoona the game' first run, and Moravek scored on an error later in the frame to make it 2-0.
RIT scored three runs in the third, however, jumping ahead 3-2. Penn State Altoona tied the score in the fifth, when Moravek's sac fly to center brought Iannizzi home to the tie score 3-3.
But the Tigers reclaimed the lead in the sixth on a Zach Mecca sac fly, and they tacked three more runs on to their total in the seventh on Kistler's two-run double and Reilly's RBI double.
Penn State Altoona baseball returns to action tomorrow Sunday, March 6, facing Fitchburg State University in a doubleheader starting at 10:00 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Park's Field #7.
