Miscues Key in Lions’ Losses to Aurora
AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team's week in Florida got off to a rough start on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions suffered a pair of losses to No. 21 Aurora University at Lake Myrtle Park in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
The Lions (0-4) fell 8-2 in game one, then lost 13-2 in game two. Penn State Altoona was plagued by some key mistakes, including committing seven errors on the day.
"Two tough games today. With the caliber of teams we play down here, we need to play much better, or the week will not end well," said Penn State Altoona head coach RJ Barnard. "We need to play well tomorrow and get two."
Game One: Aurora 8, Penn State Altoona 2
Aurora (8-2) jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings, including putting five runs on the board in the top of the first inning. The Spartans limited damage during a two-run fifth inning by Penn State Altoona, then added to their lead in the last two frames.
Clayton Hain (Schaefferstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) went 2-for-2 with a run batted in, and Dylan Bates (Towanda, PA/Towanda) and Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) each went 2-for 3 with a run scored, with Bates hitting a double. Chase Clouser (Dublin, OH/Dublin Jerome) was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Zane Leister (Middleburg, PA/Midd-West) started on the mound for the Lions, going five innings and surrendering four earned runs while striking out two. Jaryd Palmer (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) tossed one inning in relief without allowing an earned run, and Hunter Johnson (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg) also pitched one inning out of the bullpen.
Aurora plated five runs in the top of the first. AJ Gill's RBI single to left put the Spartan on the board, and Justin Sartori hit into a fielder's choice to advance another run home. Jacob Bachio's RBI single down the left field line got another run across, and another Aurora run came home on a throwing error. Corey Vondra's RBI single to left made it 5-0.
Jett Wedekind's fielder's choice drove in a sixth run for Aurora in the second inning.
Penn State Altoona got its bats going in the fifth inning and scored a pair of runs. Bates led off the inning with a double to left, and Carey followed with a base hit up the middle. The next batter, Hain, singled through the right side to plate the Lions' first run of the day. After a sacrifice bunt, Clouser's single to right scored another run for Penn State Altoona. But the Lions were unable to add any more runs during the inning and still trailed Aurora 6-2.
Aurora tacked a run on to its total in the sixth and seventh innings. Gill's two-out base hit to left drove in one run during the sixth, and Vondra's sac fly to center in the seventh made it 8-2.
Game Two: Aurora 13, Penn State Altoona 2
Penn State Altoona again surrendered an early lead to Aurora, who scored four runs over the first three innings of the game and went on to post an eight-run sixth inning.
Joey Brown (Wading River, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI. George Stiuso (Milford, NJ/Gill St. Bernard's) was 1-for-2 with a run scored and a walk, and Jared Ennis (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Hain got the start at pitcher for Penn State Altoona and tossed five innings, allowing just one earned run. Pete Manger (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) pitched 1/3 inning out of the bullpen, and Austin Miller (Orbisonia, PA/Southern Huntingdon) pitched 2/3 inning with two strikeouts.
Aurora made it 2-0 in the bottom of the first on Gill's RBI single to center and Vondra's run-scoring groundout to shortstop. A throwing error in the third inning led to a pair of Spartan runs coming across, increasing their advantage to 4-0. Nick Baldassano scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 5-0.
The Lions got on the board in the sixth, cutting their deficit to three when Brown's two-out, two-run double to right trimmed the Aurora lead to 5-2.
But Aurora answered with an eight-run bottom half of the sixth, and the Spartans cruised to the 11-run victory.
Penn State Altoona baseball gets right back it tomorrow, Sunday, March 8 with a doubleheader against Concordia University Wisconsin at Lake Myrtle Park. Game one is slated to start at 9:00 a.m.
