Penn State Scranton Baseball Drops Two to Central Maine Community College

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a frigid Friday afternoon, accompanied by some snow flurries, the Penn State Scranton baseball squad dropped both ends of their home doubleheader against non-conference foe Central Maine Community College by the scores of 7-2 and 16-4 respectively on the Schautz Stadium turf field in Dunmore. With the losses, Scranton sees their overall record move to 1-6, all in non-conference play, before they kick-off their all-important league schedule in a couple of weeks on the road at Penn State Brandywine on Friday, March 24^th.

In the opening seven inning contest, the Lions from Scranton got on the scoreboard first, when sophomore Mike DeWolfe scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning to give his ball club an early 1-0 advantage. The Lions senior right-handed ace hurler Mark Longo made that lead hold up late into the matchup with his stellar five shutout innings he tossed, only surrendering one lone base hit, walking two, and fanning two batters. However, in the top half of the sixth inning, Central Maine would come storming back in a big way, as they scored six earned runs off of Scranton freshman relief pitcher John Paffenroth to grab a 6-1 lead. The Lions would roar back in the bottom of the sixth frame when junior outfielder Garrett Walsh hammered an RBI single to bring home DeWolfe and cut the deficit to 6-2. Central Maine would tack on another crucial insurance run in the top half of the seventh inning and by game's end celebrate their five run road victory. Central Maine ended up out hitting Scranton 7-5 in the showdown.

Scranton had the dynamic duo of DeWolfe and fellow sophomore infielder Zach Benson put up multi-hit stalwart performances. DeWolfe went 2-3 at the plate, scoring both of his team's runs, and stole a base. Benson also went 2-3 at the dish. Meanwhile, Central Maine had just one player with a multi-hit day at the plate, as freshman third baseman Colton Frisbie went 2-4 and scored two runs. Also of note, fellow freshman first baseman Garren Post crushed a two run homer in the top of the sixth inning to give his squad their first lead of the game at 2-1.

On the pitching side of things, Scranton had a trio of hurlers on the mound, as Longo started and dominated, before Paffenroth came in relief and got the loss in his one inning on the bump, and freshman Alex Ferguson wrapped up the festivities by tossing the final inning, allowing just one earned run, one walk, and struck out a batter. For Central Maine, freshman hurler Trevor Phelps started on the hill and pitched four innings, allowing just one earned run, two hits, two walks, and fanned four Scranton hitters. Freshman Garrett Harvey tossed his team's final three innings, allowing an earned run, three hits, and also struck out four batters.

In the game two five inning affair, Central Maine scored early and often, as they scored a run in the first inning, a trio in the second, six in the third, one in the fourth, and five in the fifth and final frame to cruise to their dominant 12 run triumph. Meanwhile, Scranton scored a run in the third inning, one in the fourth, and two in the bottom half of the fifth. By game's end, Central Maine out hit Scranton 15-6.

On the offensive side of things, Scranton had no hitters with multi-hit performances but a hit apiece came from freshman infielder Alex Pagotto, first baseman Benson, freshman third baseman Thomas McIntyre, Walsh, freshman catcher Guy Mushow, and senior pinch hitter Justin Craigg, who also starred on the school's basketball team.

Meanwhile, Central Maine had five batters who put up stand-out multi-hit performances, as sophomore center fielder Jimmy Reed, freshman catcher Christopher Letendre, freshman left fielder Mason Booker, sophomore outfielder Rolando Rodriguez Jr., and junior designated hitter Evan Eldridge set the pace for their ball club. Reed went 3-5 at this dish from the leadoff spot, with a game-high four RBI, and scored a run. Letendre was a perfect 2-2 with an RBI. Booker was 2-3 at the plate, scoring a hat trick of runs, drawing a walk, and had an RBI. Rodriguez Jr. was 2-2, with three RBI, and scored twice. Last but certainly not least, Eldridge was 2-4, with two RBI, and two runs scored.

On the pitching side of things, DeWolfe started on the mound for Scranton and tossed the game's first three innings, before sophomore Javier Rivera came in relief to pitch an inning, only giving up one earned run, and struck out a batter, and Pagotto and McIntyre combined to throw the final inning of the contest. Meanwhile for Central Maine, they had a trio of pitchers combined to toss five innings, as freshman right-hander Derek Roman started and earned the win on the hill by throwing three innings, only giving up one earned run, two hits, and struck out four Scranton batters. Freshmen Jack Cote and Jeff Meisner came out of the bullpen to wrap up the day's long baseball festivities.

Now head coach Collin Ferguson and his 1-6 Penn State Scranton baseball squad will look to snap their five game losing skid when they next go on the road to take on non-conference foe Williamson in a doubleheader this Tuesday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 2pm. Meanwhile, head coach Ryan Palmer's Central Maine Community College baseball team will look to continue their winning ways this upcoming Sunday, when they travel to Myrtle Beach to take on County College of Morris at 10am and Middlesex College at 3pm.