Live Stats
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Winners of five of its last six games, the Kutztown University baseball team will travel to Bloomsburg University for its opening games of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) slate on Sunday afternoon, Mar. 25, for a twin-bill beginning at 1 p.m. from Danny Litwhiler Field.
The Huskies and the Golden Bears are very familiar with each other, not only as PSAC Eastern Division foes, but in having already faced one another twice this season. KU opened its season in Newport News, Va. with a crushing 9-8 loss to Bloomsburg during which it led 4-0 after 4.5 innings. The Maroon and Gold also fell in their third game of the weekend at the Builder Invitational to the Huskies 11-5 as Bloomsburg came away with an opening weekend sweep of KU in non-conference play.
A lot has changed for Kutztown since then, however, with the team winning four of five games during its spring break trip to Wilson, N.C. The Golden Bears then followed that up with a one-sided, 20-3 victory in their first home game of the season on Mar. 19 to improve their overall record to 6-4 after starting out 1-3.
The KU offense has had a lot to do with the team's recent success, holding a .320 team batting average and scoring 9.3 runs per game. The top-five players in the batting order for manager
Chris Blum (
Mike Villa (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton (Lackawanna)),
Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional),
Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua),
Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) and
Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood)) all boast .300-plus batting averages and have collected a combined 64 of the team's 118 total hits. Cox and Rottet each have five doubles on the season with Cox and Lafferty ranking first and second in RBI with 13 and 12, respectively. Kutztown has also show a propensity for hitting the long ball in the early going with five home runs in its first ten games after hitting 11 homers in 47 games a year ago.
On the mound,
Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) and
Michael Hunter (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights (Marist)) have proven to be a solid one-two punch in their first four starts with a combined 3-1 record and 1.93 ERA, surrendering just four earned runs in 18.2 innings pitched.
Garrett Alread (Victor, N.Y./Victor (Northampton C.C.)) and Gavilan Fogerty-Harnish have also been productive in relief with Alread having pitched 3.0 scoreless innings thus far with six strikeout and Fogerty-Harnish having earned both a win and a save in two relief appearances.
The Kutztown pitching staff will have to find a way to cool off the hot bat of Husky centerfielder Austin Edgette, whom enters the weekend with a .536 batting average and .786 slugging percentage in eight games. The redshirt-senior has totaled 15 hits and 12 runs scored with four doubles, one home run and seven RBI.
This matchup, despite it being the opening set of conference games, will be pivotal for both teams in deciding their postseason fate. Bloomsburg was picked fifth in the preseason Eastern Division poll while KU was picked seventh, meaning both teams were expected to finish outside of the top-four and miss the playoffs. Kutztown will not only be looking for revenge from earlier this season, but also wants to get off to a good start in conference play after a disappointing 5-21 record in 2017.
Live stats will be available for Sunday's games via the link above, which can also be accessed on
www.kubears.com.
