Lions Defeat RPI 8-5 for First Win
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Penn State Altoona baseball broke through for its first win of the season on Tuesday morning, when the Lions posted an 8-5 victory in a nine-inning game over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Chain of Lakes Park Stadium.
The Lions' (1-6) victory was highlighted by several key two-out hits, as well as a complete game pitching effort.
In his first career start, Tyler Manger (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) tossed a complete game to record his first win of the season. The right-hander pitched nine innings, holding RPI to five runs while striking out five and walking only one.
Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, two runs batted in, and two runs scored. His total of four hits ties for the seventh-most hits in a game by a player in Penn State Altoona baseball history.
Clayton Hain (Schaefferstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Dylan Bates (Towanda, PA/Towanda) was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, and Joey Brown (Wading River, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) finished with two RBI.
Penn State Altoona capitalized with two outs in the top of the second inning to grab the early lead. With two runners on base, Carey doubled down the right field line to put the Lions on top, 2-0.
Penn State Altoona doubled its lead with another big two-out hit in the fourth. After back-to-back singles from Bates and Carey, a wild pitch put both runners into scoring position. Brown's base hit to left-center plated both runners, making it 4-0.
RPI (2-2) got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth, when Joe Curci's RBI single through the left side made it 4-1. The Engineers trimmed their deficit to one in the fifth, when Richard Drum's RBI single and Jack Vaccari's run-scoring double cut the Lions' lead to 4-3.
But Penn State Altoona came through with two outs again in the sixth to score four runs, providing some breathing room on the scoreboard. With the bases loaded, Hain doubled into the right-center field gap to drive in three runs. George Stiuso (Milford, NJ/Gill St. Bernard's) followed that with an RBI single to right, increasing the Lions' advantage to 8-3.
RPI got two runs back in the eighth, pulling to within three. Back-to-back RBI singles from Martin Marintchev and Freddy Reichelt narrowed the Penn State Altoona lead to 8-5.
The Engineers made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, when one-out singles from Vaccari and Curci brought the tying run to the plate. But Manger and the Lions got two flyouts to finish the game and clinch their first victory of the season.
Penn State Altoona now heads into its second and final day off this week, as the Lions will not play any games tomorrow, Wednesday, March 11. After that, the team returns to play on Thursday, facing Rhode Island College for a doubleheader consisting of two seven-inning games at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale. Game one is scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m.
