GLENSIDE, Pa. - After a week-long hiatus, Penn State Harrisburg's baseball team returned to action by earning a road split with No. 24 Arcadia on Sunday, March 3. The Lions used clutch hitting in the opener to come away with a 6-2 victory before the home team responded in kind in the nightcap to steal a 5-4 walk-off win.
GAME 1
A tightly-contested opener came down to the final innings with Penn State Harrisburg (4-1) delivering timely hits and using gritty efforts on the mound from starter Kyle Mahady and reliever Josh Berzonski to hand the nationally-ranked Knights (4-2) just their second loss of the young season.
Trailing 2-1 entering the seventh, the Lions put up their first crooked number of the day thanks to a game-tying RBI single from Kevin Lehner that scored Brendan Henn before Carlos Irizarry put the visitors out in front for the first time with a sacrifice fly to center field that plated Drew Sassaman.
Arcadia took advantage of a couple of walks and threatened in the bottom of the eighth but Berzonski beared down and worked out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out Griffin Murphy to end the stanza.
Penn State Harrisburg added some insurance in the top of the ninth, with Henn leading off with a double to right field and Lehner driving him in two at-bats later. After a pitching change, Dallas Hite doubled before Lehner scored on a wild pitch. Irizarry capped the game's scoring by plating Hite with his second sac fly of the afternoon.
Berzonski wrapped it up with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
GAME 2
Despite a clutch game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning from Dallas Hite, the late-game magic ran out for Penn State Harrisburg (4-2) in a 5-4 loss to No. 24 Arcadia (5-2) in the final contest of Sunday's doubleheader.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the final frame, Hite blasted a hanging breaking ball over the left field fence to even things up. The Lions moved a runner into scoring position following Hite's solo shot but were unable to push the go-ahead run across.
After reliever Dallas Gilbert got two quick outs to begin the bottom half, the Knights used three straight two-out singles to complete the comeback and escape their home field with a Sunday split.
The visitors were aided by three Arcadia errors and scored the game's first three runs - one in the first, one in the second, and another in the fourth. In a reverse scenario from the opener, the Knights finally got their bats going in the late stanzas, first cutting into the deficit with a run in the sixth before tying things up with a pair in the seventh. The home team briefly grabbed the lead in the eighth before Hite kept his team alive with the 34th career home run in the top of the ninth.
NOTABLES
- Henn finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored in the opener.
- Lehner went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored in the first contest.
- Sassaman was 3-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base in game one.
- Hite had a multi-hit first outing with a double, a run scored, and a stolen base.
- Berzonski earned the win in the opener after throwing five innings and surrendering no earned runs to go along with five strikeouts.
- Mahady started game one and allowed just one run on six hits with no walks in four innings of work.
- Hite's ninth-inning blast was Penn State Harrisburg's lone RBI of game two.
- Lehner was 1-for-3 with a double and a pair of walks in the second game.
- Henn doubled and walked in the nightcap.
- Druck had a solid outing in the final outing, allowing three runs with no walks and four strikeouts in 6.1 innings thrown.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions wrap up their three-game series with No. 24 Arcadia at home on Monday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
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