HAMPTON, Va. – Ben Eppley (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Frederick C.C.))'s single with one out in the top of the ninth capped a six-run comeback as the Kutztown University baseball team out-slugged Bloomsburg, 16-15, on Sunday afternoon to finish its season-opening weekend at the Builder Invitational 4-1.
 
Trailing 15-14 entering its last at-bat, Joe Santospago (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Mercer County C.C.)) began the inning with a leadoff walk. Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) followed with a walk of his own to set up a sacrifice bunt opportunity for Jeff Zebrowski (Chester Springs, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), which he not only executed but also reached on thanks to an error that allowed Santospago to come around to score and tie the game.
 
After Bishop was thrown out attempting to score the go-ahead run on a groundout, Eppley stepped up to the plate with one away and runners on first and second and sent the eventual game-winning single to center field.
 
The job was not done yet as Ryan Clow (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) had to come on in the bottom half of frame for his third inning of work and shutdown a Bloomsburg offense that had scored 15 runs on 18 hits through eight. After striking out the leadoff hitter, he walked the next batter, but he would bare down to record the final two outs on a strikeout and groundout to cap the wild comeback that saw KU trailing 10-4 through four innings.
 
For Clow, it capped a performance in which he did not allow an earned run in three innings of work. He gave up just two hits and struck out a career-high five while walking just one. It was the redshirt-senior's second career win.
 
Offensively, Kutztown had 19 hits, tied for its most since it had 30 against West Liberty on March 5, 2011. Four Golden Bears had three hits, while two others added two apiece.
 
Joe Santospago (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Mercer County C.C.)) capped an incredible weekend by going 3-for-5 with a career-high four runs scored and three RBI and a walk. He hit his fourth home run in his fourth start, doubling his total from all of last year. For the weekend, the senior finished 8-of-15 with 11 RBI, eight runs and four home runs.
 
In his first career start, senior Zack Delp (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) reached base five times, finishing a perfect 3-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and two runs scored.
                                                                                      
Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua) and Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) each tied a career-high with three hits. Rottet went 3-for-6 with a career-high 3 RBI, while also walking and scoring once, and Cox finished 3-for-7 with a RBI.
 
Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and Mike Milazzo (Titusville, N.J./Notre Dame) each had two hits and scored twice to make it six Golden Bears with multi-hit performances.
 
Bloomsburg jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first before Santospago got KU on the board with a solo home run in the top of the second.
 
Bloomsburg answered right back with three more runs in the bottom half of the frame to go ahead 6-1, and although Kutztown got as close as 6-4 thanks to RBI base-hits from Kevin Sell (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) and Rottet in the top of the fourth, the Huskies had yet another answer in the bottom half and pushed their advantage to 10-4.
 
KU pulled three of those runs back in the top of the fifth on RBI from Delp and Eppley, but again Bloomsburg had a response and would lead 12-7 through five.
 
Kutztown made its big move in the sixth, sending 12 batters to the plate and taking advantage of two errors to take its first lead of the game, 13-12, with six runs. Santospago got it all started with a two-RBI single, and following an error, Zach Schram (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North (Mercer County C.C.)) and Rottet each drove in a run on a single to tie the game. Cox then came to the plate and delivered an RBI single to put the Maroon and Gold on top.
 
Bloomsburg wasted little time in taking the lead back though, scoring twice in the bottom half of the inning, before O'Dell tied the game with an RBI groundout in top of the eighth.
 
The Huskies gave themselves an opportunity to close out the game when they scored an unearned run for a 15-14 lead in the bottom of the eighth.