READING, P.A. – The SUNYIT Baseball Team (7-19, 6-4 NEAC) couldn't get out of Pennsylvania fast enough Sunday night, after dropping a pair of doubleheaders over the weekend – first to Penn St.-Abington on Saturday and then to league-leading Penn St.-Berks on Sunday.
Saturday…….Game 1: PSA 4, SUNYIT 2………Game 2: PSA 14, SUNYIT 7
Despite a solid complete-game pitching performance from SUNYIT junior lefty Michael Rose (Chatham, N.Y. / HVCC), the Wildcats fell to host Penn St.-Abington by a score of 4-2 in the first leg of Saturday's doubleheader. The loss snapped a school record 8-game winning streak for the Wildcats while handing the team its first conference loss as well.
First basemen Chandler Evans continued to see the ball well for the Wildcats, going 2-for-3 in the loss with a run scored, while second basemen Devin Frye was a perfect 2-for-2 on the day while recording one of only two Wildcat RBI's on the game.
Abington took the lead on a solo homer from left-fielder Vagliani in the bottom of the third, then added two more in the fifth on a hit, an error, and a wild pitch from SUNYIT.
To the Wildcats' credit, down 3-0 in the 6th they stormed back, hanging two runs on the Nittany Lions to pull within one. Abington would bring in reliever Faber for the last inning-and-a-third, however, and he was able to shut down SUNYIT preserve the 4-2 victory.
While the 6th inning provided a ray of hope for the Wildcats in the first game, in the second the frame turned into a nightmare. Up 7-6 heading into the bottom of the 6th, the Nittany Lions hung 8 unanswered runs on the Wildcats for a 14-7 victory.
Abington pounded out 14 hits in the win, 4 of which came in the 6th. More detrimental to the Wildcats, no doubt, were the 9 walks drawn by the home team, a handful of which helped keep alive the 6th inning rally.
The loss wasted a heckuva day from freshman Joe O'Rourke. The left-fielder went 3-for-3 with 2 RBI's while recording one of three SUNYIT doubles on the game.
Sunday…..Game 1: PS-Berks 3, SUNYIT 2 (Extra Innings)….Game 2: PS-Berks 7, SUNYIT 2
Sophomore Kyle Hartman just about single-handedly took down the Wildcats in the first game. The 6-1 lefty recorded 6 consecutive strikeouts in his two innings of work to finish off the Wildcats, and then for good measure lined a two-out walk-off single down the leftfield line to give Penn St.-Berks a 3-2 win.
Leadoff hitter Jhomel Solano and catcher Anthony Ragosta provided most of the offense for the Wildcats. The former went 3-for-4 with an RBI, the latter 2-for-4.
Freshman Jeff Albright went the distance for SUNYIT, giving up just 6 hits in 7 and 2/3 innings while striking out six.
In the second game SUNYIT tried to get their offense going early, scoring two runs out of the gate on singles by Anthony Surber and Chandler Evans. But the Nittany Lions answered with 4 in the bottom of the second to wipe away SUNYIT's advantage, and the Wildcats were unable to get anything going as Ryan Tantala settled down to earn the complete-game win for Berks, 7-2.
SUNYIT will travel to Utica on Wednesday for a doubleheader starting at 2:00 pm.