April 8th, 2009

MIDDLETOWN, PA - Penn State Harrisburg came ready to play, and that was bad news for Valley Forge Christian Patriots. Dan Vignola (West Islip, NY/ West Islip) took the mound for the Nittany Lions, and he came out firing. He struck out two of the batters he faced in the first inning, en route to no hit first inning. The blue and white wasted no time getting to work in their half of the first inning. Freshman T.J Houseal (Donegal/Maytown, PA) singled to start the game and two batters later Brett Harmony (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra)drove him in with a double to put the Lions up early. The Lions were not done in the first yet, as Austin Kulp (Big Spring/Newville, PA)singled in another run later in the inning to make the score 2-0 heading into the second. That was all the help that Vignola needed as he continued to mow down the Patriots. They Patriots were able to get a hit, but that was snuffed out by a beautiful double play started by Garret Piper (Carlisle, PA/Big Spring). The Lions did some more damage in the bottom of the fourth, tacking on two more runs with RBI´s from Corey Latsha(New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) and Harmony, making the score 5-0. Vignola had another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, and the Lions had another two run inning to stretch their lead to 7-0. The Nittany Lions really opened the flood gates in the home half of the sixth. Harmony doubled to start the inning, and Piper clobbered a home run that you knew was gone when it left the bat. Several hits, new pitchers and runs later the inning was over, but the score was not an insurmountable 14-0 lead for the Lions. Vignola threw a complete game five hitter for the Lions and had six strike outs. Piper and Latsha led the Lions with three RBI´s each, and Harmony led the lions in hits with three. Jon Kozak was the lone Patriot with multiple hits, going to 2-4.

Game two of the double header was more of the same for the Nittany Lions; unfortunately for the Patriots they also had more of the same. Not to be outdone by Vignola, Dan Lamar (Elizabethtown, PA/ Elizabethtown)came out ready to show what he had on the diamond. He faced only six batters through the first two innings and really looked comfortable out on the mound. The Lions gave their junior pitcher some insurance in the bottom half of the second. Piper got the blue and white started with a single and three batters later Nick Knull (Enola, PA/Cedar Cliff) singled to drive two runs in. Kevin Bowman (Elizabethtown, PA/ Elizabethtown)later singled to score Reinaldo Mora (Orlando, FL/Freedom). Latsha then hit a towering double to score another run. The Lions exited the inning with six runs off of five hits, and gave Lamar all the support he needed. The fourth inning was more of the same for the blue and white. They only needed three hits to plate four more Lions, and they came out of the inning with a big 10-0 lead. The Lions tacked on three more runs in the fifth, and Lamar just got better as the game went on. He allowed only four hits in the game, and none of them were extra base hits. He struck out five batters and walked none in his complete game gem. The final score was 13-0 in favor of the Lions. Matt Umberger (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) led the Lions with three RBI´s, and the hitting was spread out as five batters registered multiple hits in the game. Comer, Lovero, Krause and Carment were the only Patriots to reach base. The wins move the Lions to 12-8 on the year, and 4-0 in the NEAC.