HTML Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2 KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Junior right-hander
Matt Swarmer threw a career-high 15 strikeouts and was rewarded with a win off
Thomas Romano's walk-off RBI single in the eighth inning to cap a 1-0 victory for the Kutztown University baseball team in game one versus Bloomsburg University on Tuesday. Bloomsburg overcame a 7-1 deficit in game two with six runs in the fifth inning in an eventual 8-7 win over Kutztown at North Campus Field.
Swarmer had 89 of his 119 pitches go for strikes in Tuesday's opener. In an eight-inning complete game, he sat down 15 Huskies with just one walk in his first career shutout.
In his last four appearances, Swarmer has 36 strikeouts and five walks in 24.1 innings with a 0.37 ERA. He has held hitters to a.202 average over that span, the lowest of any KU pitcher.
Kutztown was held hitless in the first game through 6+ innings by a number of Bloomsburg pitchers. In a scoreless game in the sixth inning, KU reached base with a hit-by-pitch, and on a sacrifice bunt attempt by
Clay Sebesky, the ball was placed perfectly between the Bloomsburg pitcher and first baseman as no throw was made for Kutztown's first hit of the game.
KU was unable to score in the seventh despite putting a runner in scoring position, but Swarmer kept the momentum in KU's favor with a 1-2-3 eighth inning that included two strikeouts.
Travis Kreitz opened the eighth with a single, was pinch-ran for by
Joe DiWilliams, who was sacrificed to second by
Drew DeShong. Two batters later, Romano stepped up in a pinch-hit role and hit a single to left-center field to score DiWilliams from second on a close play at the plate for the walk-off victory (
VIDEO).
After 10 combined hits and one run in the opener, game two featured 21 combined hits and 15 runs.
Kreitz gave KU a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game two with a long home run to right-center field. KU plated three runs in the second inning and held a 5-0 lead through two and a 7-1 lead through four after RBI singles by
Ryan Cox and
Brandon Hickey.
Bloomsburg continued to plug away and worked for a game-tying six runs in the top of the fifth, all with two outs, to tie the game at 7-7. KU starter
Eric Hartranft left the game with a 7-1 lead in the fifth, two outs and runners on second and third. A hit-by-pitch and a bases-clearing double by Bloomsburg's Tim Ravel closed the gap to 7-4. One more KU reliever and four singles later, the game was tied at 7-7. KU committed two errors in the inning.
Tied in the seventh inning, Bloomsburg hit a one-out single, stole second with two outs, and scored on a fielding error on the KU shortstop up the middle to take the 8-7 lead. KU walked to lead off the inning and put the runner on second base with two outs, but was unable to move him any further.
Bloomsburg reliever Cody Heane picked up the win with three innings of one-hit ball. Notably, Kutztown managed just two hits in the final 3.2 innings after recording eight hits in the first 3.1 innings.
The Golden Bears take a break from conference action tomorrow, Wednesday, April 15, to travel to New York State for a nine-inning game against Adelphi University beginning at 3 p.m.
