Box Score



READING, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team used the second and fifth innings to plate eight of its nine runs Thursday afternoon to fuel it to a 9-1 non-conference victory over Division III opponent Penn State Berks at Hintz Athletic Field.
 
The Golden Bears (23-9) entered the contest ranked 25th in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national poll.  It is also rated fourth in the Atlantic Region by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
 
The first three hitters in the lineup for KU all had multi-hit games against the Nittany Lions (5-18).  Leadoff hitter Ricky Gorrell (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) put the Golden Bears on the board in the second inning.  The freshman connected on a two-out RBI single up the middle for one of his two singles on the day.  Sophomore Sean McCormick (West Chester, PA/Henderson) (West Chester, PA/Henderson) followed Gorrell with an RBI single of his own.  Gorrell would score on an infield error as all three runs came with two outs.
 
J.R. Seader (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway/ Maryland-Baltimore County) (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) got the start for KU and kept Berks off the board for two innings.  Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) relieved Seader in the third and didn't allow a hit while walking a pair in two innings on the mound.
 
With a 3-0 lead heading into the fifth, KU came to bat hoping to put the game out of reach.  Senior Shayne Houck (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) led off the inning with a double down the left field line.  Junior catcher Matt Albaugh (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) singled the next at-bat as Houck would score on a Nittany Lion fielding error.  With the hit, Albaugh extended his hitting streak to four games. 
 
Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) hit a sacrifice fly in the inning to score KU's third run of the inning.  The final two runs in the inning for KU came off an error by the first baseman that scored Ricky Devlin (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) and Brad Stoudt (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights) (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights).
 
Junior right hander Billy Felo (Dauphin, PA/Central Dauphin/Chesapeake College) (Dauphin, PA/Central Dauphin) took over on the mound for the fifth and sixth innings to pick up his first win of the season.  He allowed two hits, but walked three batters, as a hit batsman accounted for the only Berks run.
 
KU tacked on one more run in the eighth inning.  With two outs, junior T.J. Johnson (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall/PSU Berks) (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) came in to pinch hit and drove home Brandon Hickey (Mountville, PA/Hempfield) (Mountville, PA/Hempfield) with an RBI single up the middle.  It was Johnson's second hit and first RBI in the maroon-and-gold after transferring to KU from Penn State Berks in 2010.
 
Along with Gorrell, McCormick and Houck each had two hits on the afternoon.  They are both batting over .300 this season as Houck leads the club with a .392 average and 12 multi-hit games.
 
McCormick also pitched the ninth inning on Thursday.  He faced the minimum and struck out two batters in his first pitching appearance of the season.
 
Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights) pitched the seventh and eighth innings and allowed just one hit while striking out three.  In doing so, he lowered his season ERA to 1.29, good for second on the team.
 
Sophomore Kyle Hartman had two of the Nittany Lions' five hits.  Steve Koenig picked up the loss after allowing three runs – two earned – on four hits. 
 
Kutztown returns to action on Friday as it hosts East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action.  The doubleheader at North Campus Field is set to start 1 p.m. and fans can access live stats of the both games by clicking here.