SAVANNAH, Ga. (March 9, 2011) – The Kutztown University baseball team used a quick start as a springboard to an 11-5 victory over West Liberty University at Pirate Field Wednesday morning.

 

The Golden Bears (9-4 overall) scored four runs in the first inning to improve their record to 4-1 during this six-game trip. The freshmen pitching trio of Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights), Jason Henderson (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) and Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) allowed one earned run and did not walk a batter, which made head coach Chris Blum smile.

 

“Kyle did a very good job for us today,” Blum said. “Anytime you can get three freshmen to not walk a batter in a game, that's a step in the right direction.”

 

Stoudt threw six innings to get the winning decision. Henderson struck out four hitters in his two-inning stint and Holmes finished things by striking out two batters. Once the Golden Bears sprinted to a 4-0 first-advantage, the pitchers were able to relax.

 

The big hit in the first inning was Mike Dugan (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City)'s two-run double. The Golden Bears expanded their advantage to 6-1 with two more runs in the second inning. Kutztown broke the game open by scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Brad Stoudt (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights)'s RBI triple was the big blow in the inning. Andrew Otterberg (Wall Township, N.J./Wall Township) and Sean McCormick (West Chester, PA/Henderson) also had run scoring hits in the fifth inning.

 

Brad Stoudt (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights), Quigley, and Dugan all had two hits each for Kutztown, which concludes its trip Thursday when it battles Mount Olive College starting at noon. Mount Olive is ranked third in the Collegiate Baseball Lineup Top 30 Poll and fifth in this week's Collegiate Baseball Division II Top 30 Poll, as voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Meanwhile, Kutztown is ranked 21st in the latest Collegiate Baseball Lineup Top 30. It is also ranked 10th by collegebaseballlineup.com and second in the Atlantic Region as voted on by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

 

--KU--