St. Mary's City, Md. - Thanks to a strong outing from sophomore Derek Slagle and some timely offense, Penn State Harrisburg ended its recent losing-streak with a victory over CAC playoff bound St. Mary's (Md.).
The Blue and White baseball team came into today's double header on a seven game losing stretch that also put the Lions out of playoff potential recently. Not a lot to motivate the team for a strong performance in their final CAC fixture of the 2014 season. After giving up an eighth straight loss in game one of the double header 7-1, things were looking bleak for Harrisburg.
In comes Derek Slagle (York Haven, Pa. / Red Land), the sophomore held St Mary's from the start by not giving up a run in the first three innings. Eric Hoover (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey) then took advantage of an Eagle error to get on base and Colton Houseal (Maytown, Pa. / Donegal) used a single to score the game's first run and take the lead 1-0 in the top of the fourth.
The lead was short lived as the home squad rallied back for three runs in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead that Harrisburg worked so hard to get. Only two of the three runs were earned. Things stayed pretty calm over the next few innings until the Lions broke out of their cage for an impressive five run seventh inning.
Tom Denniston (Harrisburg, Pa. / Bishop McDevitt) got a walk with the bases loaded scoring John Cataldo (Pine Grove, Pa. / Pine Grove). Then Hoover singled to center field for an RBI that scored Travis Crammer (Cerritos, Cal. / Cerritos) followed directly with a Brian Balshy (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra) sacrifice fly to left field that scored Harrisburg's third run and regained the lead 4-3. Seahawks errors extended the inning and gave the Blue and White some breathing room as they scored an additional two runs.
Slagle kept his composure on the mound pitching a full eight innings before handing over the reins to Cody Dakin (Newport, N.C. / West Carteret) for the final three outs and his first save of the year.
Saturday's win ended Harrisburg worst losing streak of the year and concludes their CAC season on a high note, despite their 2-14 overall conference record. The men still have plenty of non-conference baseball to play and hopefully can keep the wins coming as they close out 2014.
The Lions next play at Gettysburg Monday April 14th for a 3:30 start.