Lions Split Twinbill With Waynesburg
AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Penn State Altoona baseball grabbed its first win of the 2019 season on Sunday at Lake Myrtle Park's Mickey Etherton Field, as the Lions split a doubleheader with Waynesburg University.
Penn State Altoona (1-5) suffered a hard loss in game one, losing 18-0. But the Lions bounced back in a big way in game two, posting a 10-1 victory over the Yellow Jackets (1-1).
"After an ugly first game, we were finally able to get the monkey off our back and get our first win in Florida," said Penn State Altoona head coach RJ Barnard. "We jumbled the lineup around a bit for game two and were finally able to do a lot of positive things. Hopefully, this will catapult us in the right direction and we can build momentum from the game two win."
Game One: Waynesburg 18, Penn State Altoona 0
Penn State Altoona struggled through a sloppy first game of the doubleheader, committing eight errors while managing just three hits as a team.
Chase Clouser (Dublin, OH/Dublin Jerome), Peter Jacobs (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills West), and Stephen Schanne (Mantua, NJ/Clearview Regional) had hits for the Lions, with Jacobs hitting a double and Clouser and Schanne getting singles.
Dylan Bates (Towanda, PA/Towanda) started on the bump, pitching 3 2/3 innings and yielding three earned runs to take the loss. Hunter Goshorn (Carlisle, PA/Boiling Springs) tossed 2 1/3 innings in his first collegiate appearance on the mound.
Waynesburg grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on John Przybylinski's RBI single and Mitch Nordstrom's RBI groundout.
The Yellow Jackets capitalized on five Lion errors in the bottom of the fourth, scoring six runs to increase their lead to 8-0. Waynesburg broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning and seven-run sixth inning.
Game Two: Penn State Altoona 10, Waynesburg 1
Penn State Altoona was steadied by a strong start on the mound from Zane Leister (Middleburg, PA/Midd-West), who tossed five innings and limited Waynesburg to one run on six hits and a walk. Tyler Manger (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) entered in relief to post a pair of scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out one.
Schanne continued his strong day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored. Catcher Cumming (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was also 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and a run scored. Clayton Hain (Schaefferstown, PA/Eastern Lebanon County) was 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Bates was 1-for-2 with two RBI, two runs scored, and a walk. Clouser drove in a pair of runs to go along with two runs scored and a stolen base.
Penn State Altoona plated its first runs of the day in the bottom of the first, when Schanne's two-run double to right-center made it 2-0.
The Lions came back for seven runs on seven hits in the second. Clouser's base hit brought two runs across, and Bates drove in two more with his single to left. Cumming's two-run triple to center gave the Lions an eight-run lead, and Hain's RBI hit through the right side capped off the inning to make it 9-0.
Waynesburg got on the board in the top of the third on Przybylinski's RBI single, but Penn State Altoona got that run back in the fourth when Bates scored on Hain's fielder's choice groundout.
Penn State Altoona baseball has its first off day of the week tomorrow, Monday, March 4. After that, the Lions return to action on Tuesday, March 5 for a single, nine-inning game against Clark University. First pitch of that game is set for 9:00 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Park's Field #1 in Auburndale.
