MOOSIC, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg put up runs on Kean to begin and end the teams' NCAA championship tournament contest on Wednesday, May 15. It was the scoring drought in between combined with the Lions' inability to shut down the Cougars' hitting that doomed them in their Mid-Atlantic Regional first round matchup. The Blue & White plated three runs in the first three innings and four in the ninth before falling to the nation's 10th ranked team 12-7 at PNC Park.
Kean, the region's number one overall seed, jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Cougars played small ball and used two bunts and two Penn State Harrisburg errors to load the bases. Joe O'Connor's triple to right center cleared the bags and gave Kean the early advantage.
The Lions answered back in the top of the second when a Cougar error allowed freshman Bryan Balshy (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra) to reach base and eventually make his way to third. Junior Tim Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif. / St. Paul) drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Kean got a two-out rally going and put some earned runs on the board in the bottom of the stanza when two singles and Andy Lopez's ensuing double stretched the Cougar's lead to 5-1.
Harrisburg refused to go away easily, however. After striking out, junior Dalton Trolinger (Carlisle, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) took advantage of a Nick Zucchero wild pitch, busted it out of the box and reached first base safely to begin the third. Junior Travis Crammer (Cerritos, Calif. / Cerritos) singled to shortstop and moved Trolinger to second base in the process. Junior Colton Houseal (Maytown, Pa. / Donegal) advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt and sophomore Branden Rutt (Ephrata, Pa. / Ephrata) singled through the right side to score Trolinger. Balshy followed him up by picking up his team-high 44th RBI of the season, singling through the hole, plating Crammer and bringing his team to within two runs at 5-3.
After holding the Cougars scoreless in the bottom of the third, Harrisburg could not keep them off the board in the fourth. A leadoff triple by Matt Meleo got things rolling and Kean used five more hits to score six runs and extend its advantage to 11-3.
The Lions had their chances over the next few innings but were unable to cut into the deficit. Penn State Harrisburg left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning and stranded runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh stanzas.
Kean tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh but Penn State Harrisburg made some noise in the team's last trip to the plate.
Crammer walked to lead-off the top of the ninth and Houseal moved him to second base with a groundout. Rutt notched his second RBI of the afternoon when he singled through the right side and drove in Crammer. Junior Ross Baker (Hummelstown, Pa. / Lower Dauphin) singled to center and freshman Garrett McCutcheon (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) worked a walk, loading the bases for Gonzalez. The Lions' catcher came through with a single to left field that plated Rutt and Baker. Junior Cole Nye (Newmanstown, Pa. / Eastern Lebanon) kept things rolling with a pinch hit single through the middle and Trolinger's ensuing walk cut the deficit to 12-7.
Unfortunately, the Blue & White's late push proved too little too late. After reliever Dylan Scance was replaced by Chris Amato, the fresh Kean hurler needed just five pitches to secure a fly ball to right field for the game's final out.
Harrisburg junior Jim Klingerman (Telford, Pa. / Souderton) was hit with just his second loss of the year (7-2). The Lions' starting pitcher went three innings on the bump and gave up eight hits, five earned runs and a walk to go along with his lone strikeout. Sophomore Dusten Rutt (Ephrata, Pa. / Ephrata) spelled him in the fourth and threw 3.2 innings, allowing six hits and four runs. He struck out one Kean batter. Sophomore Hunter Rowe (Halifax, Pa. / Halifax) needed just three pitches to record his lone out of the game and sophomore Clint Hicks (State College, Pa. / State College) sat the Cougars down 1-2-3 in the eighth stanza.
For the game, Branden Rutt was 3-5 from the plate with two RBIs and a run scored while Balshy went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Baker was 2-4 with a run scored, Crammer scored twice and Gonzalez racked up a team-high three RBIs.
The setback was Penn State Harrisburg's (26-15) first since Apr. 28 and the Lions will look to regroup and keep their season alive when they take on the region's number five seed in Johns Hopkins on Thursday, May 16, once again at PNC Park. The matchup is an NCAA tournament elimination game. The first pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.