MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team completed its first two-game sweep of the 2018 season in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action, downing Mansfield University 10-9 in extra innings in game one and 6-5 in game two. 
 
The excuses were all there to be made for the KU baseball team in its trip to Mansfield. The uncertain weather, being on the road, facing a hungry team on a 10-game losing streak, a late two-run deficit in the opener, just to name a few. However, the Golden Bears showed their resilient spirit once again, looking past those reasons as to why they could slip up on their way to two road victories against the last-place Mountaineers.  
 
Game one between MU (9-28, 3-19 PSAC) and KU (17-17, 11-11) today was an offensive show which featured a combined 19 runs and 24 hits. Thanks to a five-run top of the fifth inning, the Golden Bears took control of the opener, holding a 7-3 lead after 4.5 innings. However, Mansfield answered with six runs of its own in the bottom half to go ahead 9-7. 
 
The 'cardiac kids' delivered a resounding response in the next half inning as Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) belted a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence to score Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua), knotting the score at 9-all. After a scoreless seventh, one extra inning was necessary for the Maroon and Gold to finish off yet another comeback. This time, it was a Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) RBI-single in the top of the eighth to score Tanner Miller (Elizabethville, Pa./Upper Dauphin Area) which put KU ahead 10-9. 
 
Gavilan Fogarty-Harnish (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) (4-1) finished off the win for head coach Chris Blum in the bottom of the eighth, pitching his second consecutive scoreless inning in relief to nail down the game one victory. 
 
Game two started in a much calmer fashion with Anthony DeVito (Philadelphia, Pa./Central (Mercer County C.C.)) on the hill as KU jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 4.5 innings. Still, MU wouldn't go down easily, as it scored four in the bottom of the fifth and one in the bottom of the sixth to tie it at 5-all. 
 
The Golden Bears' late-inning magic was at work once again, though, as a Mike Villa (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton (Lackawanna)) RBI-double in the top of the seventh put KU back in front 6-5. Fogarty-Harnish (5-1), who came in in the sixth and gave up the tying run, shook that off with ease in the seventh, closing out the 6-5 win for Kuztown with a 1-2-3 inning. 
 
 
Game One
 
Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) was called on as the game one starter for Kutztown and, after KU went down in a scoreless top of the first, allowed the first run of the game via an MU RBI-double, giving Mansfield a 1-0 lead after one. 
 
The Maroon and Gold wasted little time erasing this deficit, however, as Bishop reached base to start the second inning and came around to score on a Dariel Richardson (Reading, Pa./Reading) RBI-double. Zack Delp (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) plated Kutztown's second run of the inning, strolling home after an RBI-walk to Miller, to put KU ahead 2-1.
 
Kammerer retired Mansfield in order in the bottom of the second before a Richardson sacrifice-fly, his second RBI of the game, scored Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood) in the top of the third to make the score 3-1 in Kutztown's favor.  
 
MU then tied it in the bottom of the fourth with some small ball getting an RBI-single and successful sacrifice bunt to make the score 3-3 after 4.0 innings at Mansfield's Shaute Field. 
 
Two consecutive batters reached base for KU to lead-off the top of the fifth for Kutztown, setting itself up for a big inning. With Lafferty and Cox on first and third, respectively, Bishop got the scoring started in the fifth with an RBI-single to bring home Cox. 
 
An attempted sacrifice bunt by Villa in the next at-bat scored two more runs for the Maroon and Gold as the MU pitcher made an errant throw to first base, allowing Bishop and Lafferty to score. Villa advanced to third on the error and Richardson's second sacrifice-fly of the game brought him home, capping a four-run inning for the Golden Bears to pull in front, 7-3.
 
A desperate Mansfield squad came back in a big way in the top of the sixth, knocking Kammerer out of the game with the bases loaded and no one out. Kevin Sell (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights) and Jeff Charles (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall (Lehigh Carbon C.C.)) came in for KU to put out the fire, but, all told, MU scored six runs on five hits in the sixth to go ahead 9-7, setting the stage for the game's dramatic finish.
 
Cox's home run to tie it in the top of the seventh was not only his first long ball of the season, but his first since March 9, 2015 against Clarion. 
 
Following the only scoreless frame of the game in the seventh, Bishop's RBI-single was enough to claim the win as Fogarty-Harnish finished it off. 
 
The two-thru-six hitters (Miller, Cox, Lafferty, Bishop, Villa) in KU's lineup went a combined 11-for-20 with five RBI in game one. Richardson, batting seventh, added a hit, a walk and two sacrifices for a team-high three RBI. 
 
Game Two
 
DeVito cruised through the first 4.0 innings, giving up just two hits and holding the Mountaineers scoreless.
 
At the plate, Kutztown helped the senior righty with three runs in the top of the third to give it a comfortable cushion. Brady Carras (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) scored on a Miller RBI-single and then Miller was plated by an RBI-groundout from Lafferty. Bishop came through with an RBI-single to score Cox to account for KU's three runs in the frame.
 
The Maroon and Gold tacked on two more in the top of the fifth via RBI-singles from Bishop and Richardson to take a commanding five-run advantage. At this point, it seemed KU would cruise to a win, but that all changed in the bottom of the fifth. 
 
DeVito walked the first two Mountaineers in the inning before a one-out RBI-single put MU on the board with its first run of the game. DeVito then struck out the next Mansfield hitter, but a two-out three-run home run made this one into a nail-biter with KU up just 5-4.
 
Zach Peters (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) came in to get the final out in the frame, but Kutztown went down silently in the top of the sixth, giving MU a chance to complete its comeback. It did exactly that in the bottom of the sixth, scratching out a run off Fogarty-Harnish to tie it at 6 a-piece. 
 
Kutztown then used Villa's clutch seventh-inning hit to gain the lead with Fogarty-Harnish finishing it off in the bottom half for his second win of the day and KU's first 2-0 day in PSAC play of the season. 
 
Bishop went 4-for-4 with two RBI in game two and Villa knocked out three hits of his own, including the pivotal game-winning RBI-double. 
 
With a combined three hits on the day, Lafferty sits at 98 hits for his career, needing just two more to reach the 100 career-hit milestone. 
 
Kutztown will take on Mansfield tomorrow for a two-game set from North Campus Field in search of its first PSAC series victory of the season. Senior Day festivities for the KU Baseball Class of 2018 will occur pre-game with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.