KUTZTOWN, Pa - Kutztown University baseball's offense was out paced by Jefferson in a non-conference matchup where both teams combined for 30 runs and 30 hits total Tuesday afternoon at North Campus Field. The cold temperatures and windy weather on North Campus field made for less than ideal conditions for defenses, the Rams finishing the game with six errors and the Golden Bears with four of their own.
Early on the contest was back and forth with three lead changes in the first four innings. The Rams struck first on a home run to left field in the top of the second inning from Josh Lopez, his first of three on the day.
The Golden Bears led off the bottom of the third inning loading the bases with nobody out, all three baserunners came in to score on errors made by the Jefferson defense. Kutztown finished the inning with three runs on one hit.
KU couldn't hold the lead for long as Jefferson scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. The only hit in the inning for the Rams was Lopez's second home run of the day. After a clean bottom-half of the fourth, Jefferson blew the game open, plating six runs in the top of the fifth inning, extending its lead to seven.
The Golden Bear offense tried to pull themselves back into the game, scoring one run in the bottom of the sixth and three more in the seventh inning. The Rams managed to pull away again scoring two more in the top of the eight and six more in the ninth.
Kutztown attempted some late-inning heroics, loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth, scoring three runs on three hits but was unable to overcome the deficit.
Despite the loss, the Maroon and Gold offense was hot today with seven different players recording a hit in the competition. Mike Kelly (Schwenksville, Pa./Pope John Paul II) was an impressive 4-for-6 at the plate, scoring three runs and tallying two RBIs in the game. Gavin Moretski (Harleysville, Pa./La Salle College H.S.), Ethan Martini (Trevose, Pa./Father Judge), Brennan Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford), and Colin Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) all had multi-hit games of their own.
Jake Skrocki (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) gets tagged with the loss for the Golden Bears, now 1-1 on the season. Alec Baltz gets his first win of the year for the Rams and improves to 1-0.
Kutztown's next competition is away at Shepherd Friday, April 1, with a 2 p.m. start.
