ALTOONA, Pa. – In its final non-conference action of the season, the Penn State Altoona baseball team split a doubleheader with Penn College on Tuesday afternoon at Stewart Athletic Field.

Penn College (19-16) hung on to win game one 10-8, while Penn State Altoona (15-22) bounced back with an 11-4 victory in the nightcap.

Game One: Penn College 10, Penn State Altoona 8

A late comeback attempt by Penn State Altoona fell short, as the Lions were unable to overcome a pair of six-run deficits and ultimately lost by two.

Grayson McClain (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) was 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, one run scored, and one stolen base, and Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) was also 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk. Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) started on the mound and tossed two scoreless innings with two strikeouts in a no decision. Cameron Dubbs (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) was handed the loss, after yielding one run over two innings and striking out four batters. Caden Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) added two innings in relief, and Collin Hickey (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) tossed one inning out of the bullpen.

Penn College put the game's first run on the board in the top of the third, when a one-out solo homer to right field by Brian Robison gave the Wildcats the lead. The visitors expanded their lead to 6-0 in the top of the fifth, getting a two-run single from Jacob Carles, an RBI base hit by Nathan Gustkey, and a two-run homer from Tristan Current.

Penn State Altoona trimmed its deficit to three in the bottom of the fifth, when the Lions scored three runs with two outs. A throwing error allowed Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) to score from third, after he reached on a walk earlier in the frame. The next batter, Rauch, drove in two more runs with his single down the right field line.

The Wildcats got those three runs back in the next half inning, as Quinn Hanafin's three-run home run to right-center field boosted Penn College's lead back to six, 9-3.

Penn State Altoona responded in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two more runs in a two-out situation. After Hillard and Garrett Alauzen (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) drew back-to-back walks to lead off the inning, McClain later scored them both on his base hit up the middle.

Penn College started the seventh inning with a home run to right by Tyler Rudolph, which set the Wildcats' advantage at 10-5.

Penn State Altoona made a push in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring three runs and putting the potential go-ahead run on base. Consecutive RBI singles from Alauzen and Timothy Richard (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone), along with an Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) sacrifice fly, got the Lions back to within two, 10-8. However, with the bases loaded and two outs, Penn State Altoona was unable to produce any further scoring, as the home team's rally came up just short.

Game Two: Penn State Altoona 11, Penn College 4

Penn State Altoona scored nine runs over the game's first three innings and never looked back, defeating the Wildcats by seven in game two.

Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI, two runs scored, and one stolen base, and Rauch was 2-for-3 with his fourth home run of the season, a double, five RBI, and two runs scored. Additionally, Rauch was hit by a pitch to reach 17 times plunked this season, which sets a new program record for the most times hit by pitches in a season.

Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, Hlivia hit 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base, and Hillard batted 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. McClain walked twice and scored two runs.

On the mound, Joshua Fleck (Orbisonia, PA/Southern Huntingdon) got the start and recorded his first collegiate win. Over 4 1/3 innings, the left-hander yielded four runs while striking out a pair. Alex Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings in relief and struck out three batters, notching his third save of the season.

Penn College scored in the top of the first inning on Hanafin's solo home run to right, but the Lions evened the score in the bottom half of the inning. After reaching on a hit by pitch, Rauch came around to score on several wild pitches to make it 1-1.

A hit by pitch drove in the Wildcats' second run of the game in the top of the second, when Jake Wagner was hit with the bases loaded. But Penn State Altoona answered quickly again, this time taking the lead in the bottom of the inning. Hlivia's RBI double to left center knotted the score again, and Green's RBI single to center put the Lions in front. After a pitching change, Rauch sent a ball over the right-field fence for a three-run homer, boosting Penn State Altoona's lead to 6-2.

The Lions added three more runs in the third, as a two-out RBI single from Green and two-run double from Rauch made it 9-2.

Penn College got a run in the top of the fourth on Hanafin's RBI double to center, and Shane Price led off the fifth with a home run to left center to bring the Wildcats to within five, 9-4.

But Penn State Altoona added some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) started the inning with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Hlivia's RBI double to right put the Lions up by seven, 11-4.

Penn State Altoona baseball returns to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play for its next games, which are also the team's final contests of the 2023 regular season. The Lions will host conference opponent Penn State Behrend this Saturday, April 29 at 1 p.m., and the date also marks Penn State Altoona's senior day.