Box Score Chestnut Hill 8, Kutztown 5 (HTML Box Score) KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Early errors proved to be costly for the Kutztown University baseball team as Chestnut Hill College took advantage of some early blunders by the Golden Bears to earn a 8-5 win at North Campus Field on Tuesday.
The first half of the game was played under steady showers and poor field conditions, causing most of the seven total errors committed by both teams. The skies cleared midway through the game and the Golden Bears began to find a rhythm offensively, but they could not overcome the steep deficit they dug for themselves.
Three Golden Bears notched multi-hit games, led by leadoff hitter
Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn). The junior has made the most headlines with his feet as of late, but did his damage with the bat on Tuesday. He went 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple and a double down the left field line in his first two at-bats. The extra-base hits did not put Martinez in a position to steal his potential school-record-breaking 31st base of the season, as he is currently tied for the program-record at 30.
Ricky Devlin (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) and
Ricky Gorrell (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) each had two hits in the setback, with Gorrell's coming in straight plate appearances after entering the game in the fourth inning.
John Dockins (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson (Frederick CC)) had a game-high three RBI from the two-hole, including the first RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to score Martinez following his leadoff triple to the left field corner.
The offense quickly shifted in favor of the Griffins, who jumped out to a 6-1 lead after Kutztown committed all five of its errors in the first three innings. Chestnut Hill took the lead with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the second. It answered with four runs in the third inning as things seemed to go from bad to worse for the Golden Bears.
A broken bat ground ball to third base opened the inning, but the KU third baseman air-mailed the throw to put the runner on second. Following a walk, a RBI single gave Chestnut Hill a 3-1 lead. A foul-out and a groundout put two outs on the board as one more run scored for a 4-1 lead. A fielding error on the shortstop on a routine groundball plated the fifth run, and an error on the third baseman after not catching the ball on a stolen base attempt scored Chestnut Hill's sixth run.
Carson Baker (Lehman, PA/Lake-Lehman (Lackawanna)) and
Clay Sebesky (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) drove in runs to cut the deficit to 6-3 through four, and Dockins hit a two-run single to bring the Golden Bears within one at 6-5. The Griffins scored runs in the seventh and ninth innings to close the scoring in the nine-inning affair.
Corey Snyder (Lincoln University, PA/Avon Grove) suffered his first loss and first earned runs scored against him this season. His 18 scoreless innings to open his senior year came to an end as he lasted 2.1 innings and threw 58 pitches. He allowed six runs, two of which were earned.
Dave King (Tremont, PA/Minersville) and
Eric Moul (Hanover, PA/South Western) each stepped in and threw scoreless innings of relief as KU used five pitchers.
Kutztown remains in non-conference play on Thursday, April 24 to take on Wilmington at 3 p.m. at North Campus Field.
