Scranton Lions Drop Two to Schuylkill
By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics
On a Thursday afternoon in the electric city, the hometown Penn State Scranton Lions baseball team dropped both ends of a big doubleheader to conference rival Penn State Schuylkill by an 8-2 score in game one and a 12-2 setback in the nightcap. With these defeats, the Lions from Scranton see their overall record move to 6-13 and they are 0-6 in their all-important league play schedule.
In the opening contest, the road warriors from Schuylkill jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, as they tallied a run in the top half of the first inning, a huge five spot in the second, and two more in the fourth to account for their eight run scoring output. Meanwhile, Scranton got their two runs by scoring one in the bottom half of the second frame and one more in the fifth. Schuylkill out hit the Lions by a 10-8 margin in the battle.
Scranton had one lone player put up an impressive multi-hit performance in the matchup, as freshman second baseman Tyler Kopec led the way with a perfect 3-3 showing at the plate and scored a run. For the Lions other five base hits, freshman center fielder Keegan Litts went 1-4, junior third baseman Mike DeWolfe was 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and scored once, freshman designated hitter Logan Moss went 1-3, sophomore right fielder Guy Mushow was 1-3 with an RBI single to drive home DeWolfe in the fifth, and freshman shortstop Jake Lenori also went 1-3 at the dish. Freshman catcher Luke Kirkey tallied his ball club's other RBI with a sac fly to score Kopec in the second inning. Meanwhile, Schuylkill had a trio of players with multi-hit showings, as first baseman Owen Zimmerman, centerfielder Rayjay Marmolejos, and left fielder Brenan Adams set the pace offensively for their squad.
On the pitching side of things, Scranton had sophomore right-handed hurler Donald Healey start on the mound as he took the loss tossing the first six innings, allowing eight earned runs, nine hits, a quartet of walks, and fanned a hat trick of Schuylkill batters on the day. Sophomore righty Alex Ferguson came in relief and threw a scoreless inning, giving up just one hit, and walked no one in his solid appearance coming out of the bullpen. Meanwhile for Schuylkill, they had Owen Shoop start on the bump and go the distance in his complete game victorious effort, throwing seven dazzling innings, allowing just a couple of earned runs, eight hits, walked a pair, and struck out six Scranton hitters.
In the game two nightcap, Schuylkill scored early and often, as they tallied a couple of runs in the top half of the first inning, a four spot in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, and wrapped things up with another four runs in the sixth and final frame to account for their robust 12 run offensive explosion. Scranton scored their two runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning to get on the scoreboard and avoid the dreaded shutout. Schuylkill out hit the Lions by a 13-7 margin in the showdown.
Scranton had two players with strong multi-hit showings in the second game, as designated hitter Healey was a flawless 2-2 at the plate and first baseman Moss went a stalwart 2-3 at the dish and had an RBI to boot. The Lions other three hits came off the bats of second baseman Kopec who went 1-2, drew a walk, and scored a run, third baseman DeWolfe was 1-3 and scored once, and centerfielder Litts went 1-1, drilling a nice double, reached base once via the walk, and had an RBI for good measure. Meanwhile, Schuylkill had three players with stellar multi-hit showings, as Marmolejos was 3-4, swiped two bags, and scored three times, Zimmerman went a perfect 3-3 at the dish, hammering three doubles, had a walk, a trio of RBI, and tallied a run, and last but certainly not least, shortstop Ethan Naftzinger was 3-4, scored once, and drove home a pair.
On the pitching side of things, Scranton started freshman right-hander Braden Savage on the mound who took the loss, as he tossed all six innings for his squad, allowing 10 earned runs, 13 hits, a quartet of bases on balls, and struck out two batters. Meanwhile, Schuylkill started Zimmerman who earned the victory on the bump, throwing four and 1/3 innings, giving up just one earned run, five base hits, walked a couple, and fanned five Scranton hitters in his top notch effort. Justin Sickle came in relief out of the pen and wrapped up the festivities by tossing the final 1 and 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run, two hits, walked no one, and struck out a pair.
Now third-year head coach Collin Ferguson and his 6-13 Penn State Scranton Lions ball club will look to bounce back and snap their six game losing streak and capture their first league win of the season when they travel on the road to face off with conference foe Penn State Schuylkill for the second straight day, this time a crucial doubleheader on Good Friday to kick-off the Easter holiday weekend, with first pitch scheduled for a 2pm start time.