Lions Drop Tuesday Tilt with Knights
DAVENPORT, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team continued its week in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Tuesday afternoon, when it suffered a 10-1 loss to Calvin University at Northeast Regional Park.
The Lions (2-4) struggled to get the bats going, managing just one run on two hits. Calvin (3-5) staked out an early lead, putting four runs on the board in the top of the first, and the Knights never looked back.
Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, and Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) was 1-for-4 with a run scored. James St. Laurent-Friend (Wake Forest, NC/Wake Forest) reached base twice on a pair of walks, and Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) recorded the Lions' lone RBI.
Brycen Flinton (Denver, PA/Cocalico) started on the rubber for Penn State Altoona and took the loss, after pitching four innings and yielding four earned runs with four strikeouts. Michael Labisi (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) tossed four innings out of the bullpen, surrendering just one run and striking out one batter.
Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) also made an appearance in relief, and Cameron Dubbs (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) pitched a scoreless ninth.
Calvin established a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, thanks to run-scoring singles from Patrick Gillen, Carter Penn, Ryan Tschirhart, and Matt Reynolds.
Penn State Altoona got a run back in the bottom half of the first, narrowing its deficit to 4-1. Hillard led off the frame with a base hit up the middle and later scored on Chamberlain's groundout to second.
Calvin added a run in the fourth on an RBI double from Aidan Jaworowski, and the Knights tacked another run on in the eighth, courtesy of Reynolds' sacrifice fly.
The Knights made it 10-1 by getting four runs across in the top of the ninth. Gillen's triple to left-center drove in a pair, and RBI singles from Penn and Josh Winkle gave Calvin a nine-run cushion.
Penn State Altoona baseball now heads into an off day tomorrow, Wednesday, March 6. The Lions return to action at Northeast Regional Park on Thursday, March 7, facing Albion College in a single, nine-inning game starting at 9:15 a.m.
