Box Score



Wilmington 10, Kutztown 8 (HTML Box Score)
 
WILMINGTON, Del. – After fighting back to take a one-run lead in the eighth inning, the Kutztown University baseball team's comeback fell short as a walk-off home run by Wilmington University (DE) sent it to a 10-8 victory over the Golden Bears on Thursday afternoon at Wilson Field.
 
Thursday was a battle of nationally-ranked teams as the Golden Bears (24-9) entered the game ranked 27th by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the Wildcats (28-12) were ranked 20th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
 
Kutztown trailed 7-4 heading into the final three innings of the nine-inning game. Junior Brett Hauck (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) hit a sacrifice fly with to score senior Todd Rubendall (Collegeville, PA/Methacton) in the seventh and pull the Golden Bears within two (7-5). Rubendall doubled earlier in the inning to put himself in scoring position.
 
After a seamless seventh inning in the field for Kutztown, it loaded the bases with no outs off a hit by pitch, and singles from Joe Peters (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown (Delaware Technical CC)) and Brandon Shurr (Bernville, PA/Schuylkill Valley). The Wilmington catcher committed an error the next at-bat to score the runner from third, but Matt Albaugh (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second.
 
With two outs, Rubendall came up clutch with his third extra-base hit of the day with a two-run double to give Kutztown an 8-7 lead, its first since taking a 3-0 lead in the first.
 
Kutztown pitcher Brandon Shimo (Jermyn, PA/Lakeland (Lackawanna)), who took over for Jordan Garcia (Mount Carmel, PA/Fleetwood) with two outs in the seventh, forced three groundouts in the eighth for a 1-2-3 inning. However, the ninth did not go as smoothly for the junior, allowing two singles that led to the three-run homer that went off the scoreboard in right field.
 
Rubendall went 4-for-4 in the setback. It was the third four-hit outing of his career and first in over a year since he batted 4-for-5 at Virginia State on Mar. 14, 2012. Rubendall accounted for half of Kutztown's eight hits on Thursday.
 
Garcia was Kutztown's most effective pitcher with 1.1 innings on the mound and allowing no runs and three hits.
 
Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) relieved starter Jason Henderson (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) in the second inning and pitched 3.2 innings in relief with four strikeouts. With KU having the upcoming weekend off, Holmes logged innings on Thursday out of the bullpen for the first time since Mar. 9.
 
The Golden Bears led early with three runs in the first inning. Junior Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) drove in Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) with a double down the left field line, and was knocked in two batters later by Peters. Travis Kreitz (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) had a sacrifice fly in the inning as well.
 
The three-run first was answered by Wilmington with a five-run second inning.
 
The Golden Bears have the weekend off from conference competition and travel to Philadelphia University on Sunday, April 21 for a single-game beginning at 1 p.m.