Lions Rally Past Albion for Second Win in Florida
DAVENPORT, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team faced a 4-0 deficit after five innings of its game with Albion College on Thursday, but the Lions rallied for a 7-6 victory over the Britons at Northeast Regional Park.
Albion (5-3) scored a run in the first, second, third, and fifth innings to take a four-run advantage into the sixth. But Penn State Altoona (3-4) stayed within striking distance, and its bats awoke late to score seven runs over the game's final four innings. The Lions' comeback was keyed by a five-run seventh inning.
The win is Penn State Altoona's second of the team's trip this week in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
Three different Lion batters finished with a two-hit performance at the plate.
Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored, and two walks. Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) went 2-for-4 with a double, three runs batted in, and a walk, and Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was also 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk.
Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) finished 1-for-2 with a triple, three RBI, two runs scored, and two walks. Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College), Grayson McClain (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union), Jimmy Mento (Corapeake, NC/Gates County), and Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) also had one hit apiece, with Hillard's hit being a triple.
Cole Brechbill (Hagerstown, MD/North Hagerstown) got the start on the mound and finished with a no decision, going two innings and striking out one. Caden Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) came out of the bullpen to toss the next three innings, allowing no earned runs and recording a pair of strikeouts.
Sean Wing (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) registered the win for Penn State Altoona, his first victory of the season, after going 3 2/3 innings and notching three strikeouts. Chamberlain pitched the final 1/3 inning to pick up his second save of the year.
Albion drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI triple to right by Kris Stojanovski, and Ryker Mazey's run-scoring hit in the second increased the Britons' lead to 2-0.
Albion loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, but Penn State Altoona limited the damage to just one run by turning a double play and getting a strikeout. The Britons scored their fourth run of the day in the fifth, when Stojanovski reached on a one-out walk and later came around to score on a throwing error.
Penn State Altoona got on the board in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Ingold drew a walk, and Hlivia followed with a double down the left-field line to cut the Albion lead to 4-1.
The Lions turned the tables on Albion in the seventh, when Penn State Altoona got five runs across on six hits to take its first lead of the day. With one out, Hillard tripled to right, and Green followed with a base hit into right field to make it 4-2. Rauch and Chamberlain each reached on singles to load the bases, and one out later, Ingold's triple to right-center field cleared the bases and gave Penn State Altoona a 5-4 advantage. After a pitching change, Hlivia delivered an RBI single up the middle to add to the Lions' lead, making it 6-4.
Albion trimmed Penn State Altoona's lead back down to one in the bottom half of the seventh, when Evan Schuster's sacrifice fly to right narrowed the score to 6-5. But Penn State Altoona got that run back in the top of the ninth, when Hlivia drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk to boost the Lions' lead back to two, 7-5.
Albion threatened again in the bottom of the ninth, as back-to-back two-out doubles by Matt McGann and Stojanovski resulted in a run for the Britons. But Penn State Altoona stranded the potential tying run in scoring position, recording the game's final out to preserve a one-run win.
Penn State Altoona returns to Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale for its next games, as the Lions will take on Chatham University tomorrow, Friday, March 8, in a doubleheader at the complex's main field. First pitch of game one is slated for 12:30 p.m.
