Box Score Kutztown 8, Lock Haven 6 (HTML Box Score)
HAMPTON, Va. – A pair of passed balls plated two runs in the seventh inning for the Kutztown University baseball team and lifted it to a 8-6 season-opening victory over Lock Haven University on Thursday night in the first game of the Builder Invitational at War Memorial Stadium.
The Golden Bears (1-0) scored four runs in the first inning, but allowed six in the fifth to the Bald Eagles (0-1) to trail 6-4. Kutztown answered with the final four runs of the game, including three in the seventh and the final two off passed balls, to earn the win.
Junior outfielder
Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) had a team-high three hits and scored two runs in the win. Senior
Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) and freshman
Drew DeShong (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle Antrim (Hagerstown CC)) each notched multi-hit games with two apiece, as well as two RBI apiece.
On the mound,
Mike Kammerer (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) picked up his first career victory with 2.1 innings of hitless relief. He notched five strikeouts with one walk leading up to when he handed the ball off to
Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) in the ninth inning. Swarmer let up one hit in the ninth, but did not allow a run in his first save of the season.
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The Golden Bears loaded the bases with no outs to start the game. Stoudt drove in the first two runs with a single to right-center field. DeShong followed Stoudt's RBI single with one of his own to extend the lead to 3-0. With two outs, freshman second baseman
Brandon Cholish (Peckville, PA/Valley View (Lackawanna)) capped the four-run inning with a single to score Stoudt.
The early runs gave senior pitcher
Brandon Shimo (Jermyn, PA/Lakeland (Lackawanna)) great run support on the mound. He allowed one hit and notched five strikeouts through the first three innings, and kept the Bald Eagles off the board for the first four innings.
Lock Haven opened the top of the fifth inning with three straight singles and hit the scoreboard with two runs off a pair of RBI singles to cut Kutztown's lead to 4-2. An infield RBI single with two outs brought the score to 4-3, but the inning continued to get worse for Kutztown. Lock Haven struck for a two-run single to take a 5-4 lead, its first of the game, which brought an end to Shimo's night. He finished with seven strikeouts
Following a pitching change, Kutztown walked three consecutive batters that plated another run and capped Lock Haven's six-run inning to give it a 6-4 lead.
DeShong drove in his second RBI of the night in the fifth to bring Kutztown within one.
The Golden Bears benefitted from some wild pitching and scored three runs in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded, KU walked in a run and scored two runs on a pair of passed balls.
Kutztown is slated to face the host of the tournament, the Newport News Apprentice School on Friday, Feb. 21 at 12 p.m.
