HTML Box Scores: Game 1 vs. CU | Game 2 vs. UPJ
 
WILSON, N.C. – Travis Kreitz and Matthew Armour both homered in the Kutztown University baseball team's 5-4 win over Pitt-Johnstown University on Sunday, which followed a 3-1 KU victory over Clarion to highlight Kutztown's second day of its spring break trip.
 
The Golden Bears are off to a 4-0 start to its 2015 campaign.
 
Leadoff hitter Ben Eppley and Kreitz accounted for five of KU's seven hits in Kutztown's opening 3-1 win over Clarion. Kreitz scored KU's first run with a double in the second inning, and went on to score on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Hickey.
 
Fellow senior Ricky Gorrell extended the lead to 2-0 with a RBI single in the third, scoring catcher Derian Sarlat.
 
Junior transfer and first year Golden Bear Bobby Reddick tossed five shutout innings of one-hit ball to lead Kutztown's strong pitching staff through the first two days of the season. He notched five strikeouts with one walk and handed the ball off after the fifth inning.
 
Eric Hartranft threw two innings and allowed a run in the sixth inning off a leadoff single and a series of groundballs that advanced the runner home. He gave Matt Matricardi the ball in the eighth inning with a 2-1 KU lead, and Matricardi allowed just one baserunner to maintain the one-run lead.
 
Kutztown tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Clarion hit the first two batters and Sarlat dropped down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position with one out. Eppley notched his third hit of the game with a RBI single to score Drew DeShong from third. The KU threat ended following a picked-off steal attempt at home and a groundout to end the half-inning with a 3-1 lead.
 
Dave King took over in the ninth and notched his first save of the season by striking out the side to preserve Kutztown's 3-1 victory.
 
In the nightcap against Pitt-Johnstown, Kutztown found itself in a 4-1 deficit after UPJ drove in four runs in the second inning. The damage could have been worse had it not been for senior outfielder Brandon Martinez. On a long single to the wall, Martinez hauled in the loose ball, fired a dart to shortstop Brandon Cholish, who connected with catcher Clay Sebesky to throw out the runner at home plate.
 
The comeback started in the third inning, when Armour blasted a two-run homer to cut the deficit to one (4-3). Martinez doubled earlier in the inning to add to Armour's RBI total.
 
Still trailing by one in the sixth, Kreitz stepped up in a pinch-hit role and belted a leadoff homer to tie the game. It marked his sixth career home run and the first since his freshman season in 2012.
 
The offense didn't stop with Kreitz though. Cholish followed the long ball with a double, a sacrifice bunt by Sebesky moved the runner over to third, and Eppley drove in the eventual game-winning run to give KU a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth inning.
 
Eppley has notched a hit in all four games this season.
 
Kutztown's bullpen was asked to pitch more innings than usual in the nightcap, but that didn't stop it from keeping up its tremendous start to the season. The bullpen allowed two hits and no runs through the final seven innings. It tabbed eight strikeouts, led by David Brown's six and no walks in three innings of work.
 
Cameron Mathis relieved Brown with one out in the ninth, recorded an out, and handed the ball over to King to pick up his third save of the season. Eric Moul recorded the win with 3.1 innings of one-run ball.
 
So far this season, Kutztown's bullpen has allowed one run in 16.2 innings.
 
Kutztown looks to keep its hot start alive on Monday, March 9, with a doubleheader against Clarion University beginning at 5 p.m.