Scranton Lions Baseball Drop Home Contest to Clarks Summit

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a sunny, spring Tuesday afternoon home matinee, the Penn State Scranton baseball squad lost a tight 9-6 nine inning affair to the local non-conference foe the visiting Clarks Summit University Defenders. With the defeat, the Lions from Scranton see their overall record move to 2-8, all in non-conference play, before they kick-off their all-important league schedule later this week.

Clarks Summit's offense got off to a red hot start as they scored three runs in the first inning, three more in the second, and three in the fifth frame, to jump out to an early big 9-1 advantage heading into the bottom half of the seventh. However, in the seventh inning the Lions would show some tremendous grit and resiliency as they came roaring back rallying to score four runs and one more for good measure in the eighth, before Clarks Summit would shut down Scranton's valiant comeback effort in the ninth frame to hold onto the hard fought three run triumph. Overall Clarks Summit also had a narrow advantage in the hit department over Scranton, 10-9.

Scranton had a well-balanced offensive attack in the contest, as a whopping four of their players put up impressive multi-hit performances, as sophomore Mike DeWolfe, freshman infielder Alex Ferguson, fellow freshman Ryan Vinton, and freshman Guy Mushow set the pace for their ball club. DeWolfe went 2-5 at the plate, with an RBI, and a stolen base to boot. Ferguson was 2-4 at the dish, with an RBI single in the seventh, a double, and drew a walk. Vinton went 2-3, scoring twice, walked once, stole a base, and hit an RBI single to drive in stand-out senior Mark Longo in the bottom of the seventh. Last but certainly not least, Mushow was 2-3, hammering two doubles, and scoring two times.

Meanwhile, Clarks Summit had the dynamic duo of freshman shortstop Tanner Smith and senior infielder Nathaniel Tutton who led the way with their multi-hit stalwart ball games. Smith had a game-high three hits, as he went a near perfect 3-4 at the dish, with a double, two runs scored, a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI single in the top half of the second inning. Tutton was 2-5 on the day and hit a nice RBI single in the first frame to give his squad an early 3-0 lead.

On the pitching side of things, Scranton had six hurlers toe the slab, as DeWolfe started and took the loss on the mound in his two innings of work, followed by two strong shutout innings for freshman Thomas McIntyre to go along with his two strikeouts, an inning for sophomore Zach Benson, a dazzling two shutout innings for freshman John Paffenroth, a scoreless inning and a strikeout for senior Justin Craigg, and finally, a shutout inning of relief for freshman Alex Pagotto. As for Clarks Summit, they had four pitchers take the mound, as freshman Braxton Richardson started and earned the victory, as he threw a dominant six innings, only allowing one earned run, four hits, three walks, and fanned seven Scranton batters. Richardson was relieved by senior Ben Brubaker who did not retire a batter and gave up four earned runs, on two hits, and two walks. Tutton threw two innings of relief, allowing one earned run, on two hits, a walk, and struck out two batters. Finally, junior Ben Burchell took the mound in the bottom of the ninth, and picked up the crucial save, as he threw a shutout inning and only allowed one base hit.

Now second-year head coach Collin Ferguson and his 2-8 Penn State Scranton baseball squad will look to snap their mini two game losing streak when they next go on the road this Thursday in their conference opener against rival Penn State Brandywine at the Maple Zone under the lights, with first pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 5pm, weather permitting. Meanwhile, interim head coach Josh Knight and his 4-7 Clarks Summit University Defenders will look to continue their winning ways when they next face off against the University of Valley Forge Patriots this Friday afternoon at 4pm for the home contest.