NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Kutztown University baseball team fell in a heartbreaker to Bloomsburg University, losing 9-8 on a walk-off Husky double, but bounced back to record a convincing 8-0 victory over the Newport News Apprentice School to begin its 2018 season.
 
KU was hitting the cover off the ball from the get-go today, plating a combined total of 16 runs on 28 hits in its first two games. Catcher/DH Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood) had a monster day at the dish, going a combined 6-for-6 with six RBI, four runs scored, three walks and a solo home run, which he hit in his first at-bat of the season against Bloomsburg. Mitch Pinder (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown Area) went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI, adding a stolen base, in game one against the Huskies.
 
Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) and Lafferty paced the offense in game two, with Cox going 3-for-4 with a double, three RBI and three runs scored. Michael Hunter (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights (Marist)) was also strong on the mound in game two against Newport News, going 5.0 innings and striking out five, surrendering just one hit and three walks.
 
Game One (vs. Bloomsburg)
 
Kutztown was seemingly in control of its opening game of the season, plating four runs in the first five innings which came by way of a Lafferty homer, Pinder two-RBI double and Cox sacrifice fly, putting it ahead 4-0 after 5.5 innings. On the bump, Gavilan Fogarty-Harnish (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata), who enjoyed a very successful freshman campaign out of the bullpen last year, got the start from manager Chris Blum and made his presence felt. Fogarty-Harnish scattered four hits in 4.0 innings of work, walking two and striking out two in his first live action of the season.
 
Bloomsburg took back the momentum, however, in this back-and-forth game, getting an RBI-double to bring its first run across in the bottom of the fifth. Catcher Ryan Shiffer then stepped to the plate and launched a three-run home run to straightaway center and, suddenly, the game was knotted at 4-all. Shiffer brought another run across in bottom of the sixth on an RBI-groundout, giving the Huskies their first lead of the afternoon.
 
The Maroon and Gold showed their resiliency in the top of the seventh, though, getting three consecutive RBI-singles from Lafferty, Dariel Richardson (Reading, Pa./Reading) and Brady Carras (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) to pull back ahead, 7-5. Bloomsburg, once again, answered in its half of the seventh, playing small ball, bringing three runners across the plate and bringing nine batters to the dish in total with just one extra-base hit in the frame.
 
KU tied it on a Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua) RBI-double with nobody out in the top of the eighth, which scored Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional), but Rottet was stranded in scoring position with two Golden Bear strikeouts to end the inning. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and a runner on third base, Bloomsburg got the hit it needed off Kutztown's Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic), a double to left field to secure the walk-off victory.

Game Two (vs. Newport News)
 
The Maroon and Gold bats stayed red-hot in the early stages of game two against Newport News, quickly jumping out to a 7-0 advantage in its first three at-bats. Cox started the scoring with a two-RBI double which was followed by a Lafferty RBI-single and Jeff Zebrowski (Chester Springs, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) RBI-single on the infield to plate four in the top of the first. Lafferty added an RBI-single in the second and then Cox came around to score on a Connor Teschko (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley Regional) single for the Golden Bears' second run of the inning.
 
KU tacked on two more runs as the game progressed, getting an RBI-groundout from Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) in the third and another RBI-single from Lafferty, his third of the game in the top of the sixth to round out the scoring.
 
Hunter, Zach Moretski (Harleysville, Pa./La Salle College) and David Brown (Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) combined for 7.0 innings of work, giving up just two hits and striking out seven to keep Newport News at a comfortable distance. The game ended after the top of the eighth inning due to fog.

Hunter picked up the win in his first start of the season, improving his record to 1-0 while Kammerer took the loss against Bloomsburg as his record falls to 0-1.
 
Splitting its first two games of the season, KU will be looking for revenge in its first game tomorrow, facing off with Bloomsburg at 1 p.m. It will then take on Newport News at 4 p.m. for the second time this weekend to wrap-up its opening weekend of play in Virginia.