Senior Day Photo Gallery

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team rallied behind a game two complete-game by Paul Piromalli (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West (Mercer County C.C.)) to pick up a 4-2 win and salvage a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) doubleheader against Bloomsburg on Senior Day, Saturday afternoon at North Campus Fields.   KU fell in the opener, 8-0.
 
In one of his last starts as a Golden Bear, Piromalli (3-3) went seven innings in the second game, allowing four hits with two runs (one earned) and 10 strikeouts.  It was the second time in his career that the senior-lefty finished with double-digit strikeouts.
 
Kuztown (19-25, 9-13 PSAC) got on the board in the bottom of the first when an Alec O'Dell (Edgewood, Md./West Chester Bayard Rustin (Harford C.C.)) single up the middle scored Brady Carras (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) to make it 1-0.  Just four pitches later, Joe Santospago (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Mercer County C.C.)) homered to deep left-center to push the lead to 3-0. 
 
Piromalli threw four-hitless innings before Bloomsburg (21-19, 8-14) started to threaten in the top of the fifth.  BU's Shane Woelfel lead off the inning with a triple and scored on a fielding error to cut the KU lead to 3-1.  Ryan Shiffler, who reached second on the error, later scored after a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to cut the lead to 3-2.
 
Kyle Rogers (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton Area) added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with a solo-shot to left to make it 4-2.
 
Bloomsburg loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh, but Piromalli struck out one batter before getting a groundball out to seal the Kutztown victory.
 
In what looked like an opening game pitching duel turned into a 8-0 Bloomsburg win after BU scored all eight runs over the last four innings of the game.  BU got one in the fourth and fifth, four in the sixth and two in the seventh to go with its 13 hits. 
 
Bloomsburg's Mike Warren (5-4) threw a complete-game shutout, allowing four hits and striking out seven. 
 
O'Dell led the KU offense on the afternoon, finishing 3-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored.  Carras went 2-for-3 with a run scored in his game two start.  Anthony Sneska (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley) also picked up a start in game two, going 2-for-3.  Santospago and Rogers both hit their second home runs of the season. 
 
Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) went six innings in the opener, allowing two earned runs with nine strikeouts.
 
The two teams travel to BU's Litwhiler Field to finish the season-series Sunday, April 24, with a first pitch of 1 p.m.
 
Kutztown enters Sunday's doubleheader in fifth place in the PSAC East, a game behind Shippensburg for the final playoff spot.  The Golden Bears would need to finish a game ahead of SU, as it holds the season head-to-head tiebreaker. 


Sunday's Live Stats can be found here