Stevenson, Md. - The Penn State Harrisburg Men's Baseball team, finally got a chance to leave the gym and get outside to play their first game of the season.  Unfortunately after giving up four runs in the 4th and 5th innings, the lions fell 7-2 to the Stevenson Mustangs.

The first three innings were a defensive standstill; Harrisburg's Will Chaney (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg) did not give up a single hit during his three innings for the day.   The Lions Branden Rutt (Ephrata, Pa. / Ephrata) had the only earned hit from either team in the first third of the game with his single to left field in the second inning.   

The 0-0 score was broken by Stevenson in the bottom of the fourth as they turned 4 singles into 2 runs.  They continued their momentum in the fifth with an additional two runs giving themselves a 4-0 advantage going into the sixth inning.

Harrisburg continued to get hits throughout the game, but could not string them together to earn any runs to get the game tighter.   After a 3 run eighth inning for the Mustangs, Harrisburg went into their final three outs down 7-0. 

Our lion men showed some character and got on the board in the final inning as the top of the order helped to finish the game with a 4 hit inning.  This was a good way to finish the game, despite the 7-2 loss to the Mustangs. 

Harrisburg had a solid start thanks to Will Chaney's pitching.  The big bats for the lions came from Branden Rutt and TJ Richartz (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor); both went 2-4, grabbing two singles each. 

The Lions will chase better weather down South next week as they head to Myrtle Beach for their spring break tournament.  It will not be a vacation with the Lion men scheduled to play 6 games over a 5 day period.  Wednesday's game was Head Coach Ryan Bown's first collegiate game of his young college career.