MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg's baseball team opened United East play with a 7-3 victory in the first contest of a three-game series against Penn State Abington on Friday afternoon, March 18.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Penn State Harrisburg (4-9) picked up a valuable victory over conference foe Penn State Abington (8-5) in the team's United East opener on Friday afternoon. Kevin Lehner homered to start the game's scoring, Dallas Hite went 2-for-4 with a double, and starting pitcher Drew Harshbarger struck out nine batters in 6.2 innings of work.

The hometown Lions jumped out in front early when Lehner launched a solo shot over the fence in right field just two at-bats into the bottom of the first inning. Two innings later, Lehner drove in another run when his ground ball to shortstop plated Sam Merchant from third base.

Harshbarger was on cruise control for most of the day and did not allow a hit until the top of the seventh inning when Ryan McCarty broke up the no-no with a single to right field. Tim Petrucelli and Anthony Bencardino followed it up with back-to-back hits to get on the board and Sean Doherty tied it up with a two-out RBI single.

Danny Eden came on in relief and stranded a runner on third to end the top of the seventh. Penn State Harrisburg responded with a massive five-run bottom half thanks to four hits, including a Hite double, and four walks. Parks drove in a pair of runs thanks to a one-out single to center field that scored Hite and Merchant before a Brendan Henn single up the middle plated Parks to make it 5-2. Before the inning was through, Drew Sassaman and Merchant worked bases-loaded walks to push the advantage to five runs heading into the eighth.

Eden sat the visitors down 1-2-3 in the top of the next stanza and while Penn State Abington got one back in the ninth, Eden stranded a pair of runners to end the comeback attempt and seal the victory.

NOTABLES

- Kevin Lehner's first-inning blast was his third home run of the season.

- Dallas Hite went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a run scored, and a stolen base.

- Matt Parks and Lehner each drove in a team-high two runs.

- Sam Merchant finished with two runs scored, two walks, and an RBI.

- Drew Harshbarger threw 6.2 innings, struck out nine, and allowed just two runs on three hits.

- Danny Eden earned the first win of his career after throwing 2.1 innings of relief and striking out three batters.

WHO'S NEXT?

The Lions wrap up their weekend series with Penn State Abington with a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. First pitch for game one is set for 12 p.m.

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