KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team hosted its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division series of the season, dropping a pair of close battles to the Shippensburg Raiders, 2-1 and 11-6 on Friday afternoon at North Campus Field.
The Golden Bears (7-8, 0-2 PSAC East) got spurts of solid starting pitching from graduate student
Abel Saft (Kintnersville, Pa./Moravian Academy) and freshman
Kooper Zdimal (Morgantown, Pa./Twin Valley), and while that kept the Raiders (15-5, 2-0 PSAC East) at bay, the visitors countered with its own pitching and added onto the final innings to secure its first two conference wins of the season.
Game 1: Shippensburg 2, Kutztown 1
Saft held strong through six innings and 104 pitches, allowing just four hits and no runs to a threatening Raiders squad. It was a battle of the men on the hill, as SU countered with Conner Barto (W, 5-0), who matched KU's starter with six innings while striking out five and walking just one.
The offense for either team wouldn't get going until the sixth inning, when
Bo Barthol (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland) recorded the team's only hit of the day and a pair of walks put the speedy center fielder 90 feet away from the plate. A
Nick Varda (Columbia, Md./Atholton) sacrifice fly sent Barthol home for the go-ahead run, and Kutztown put themselves just three outs away from victory.
Instead, a pair of walks and the two singles that followed gave Shippensburg the one-run advantage, one that would put the Golden Bears in a do-or-die position in the bottom of the seventh. While
Aiden Soumas (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood) managed to get on and advance all the way to third base with two outs, he was left stranded by Jack Robinson (SV, 5), who shut the doors and sealed the deal in the Raiders' win.
Logan Woodward (Furlong, Pa./Germantown Academy) (L, 1-1), who was tasked with the seventh inning, took the loss for the Golden Bears. The winning line saw Shippensburg collect two runs on six hits, while Kutztown had a run on one hit and an error in defeat.
Game 2: Shippensburg 11, Kutztown 6 (8 innings)
Kutztown was more than able to turn up its offensive output in the second game, largely aided by right fielder
Jared Ferguson's (Reinholds, Pa./Cocalico) 2-for-3 performance and two runs batted in at the plate.
The Golden Bears jumped on the board first with a pair of runs in the first inning, coming off a well-placed bunt by Ferguson and extra base running allowed by a Shippensburg throwing error. After the Raiders cut the lead in half with an RBI double in the second, Barthol sent home
Cam Burr (Reading, Pa./Muhlenberg) with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame to regain the two-run advantage.
It wasn't until the sixth inning that there was any more movement on offense. Shippensburg took advantage of opportunities as it scored five runs in the frame, taking a three-run lead heading into the final frame. The Golden Bears, well positioned in the bottom of the inning, put some timely hits past the infield to send home a trio of runs to tie everything at six and send the game into extra innings.
In the lone frame of bonus baseball, the Raiders hammered KU with five runs, leaving the Golden Bears in the dust as it looks for answers before it travels to Shippensburg for a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon.
Reliever
Jeremy Fallon (Souderton, Pa./Souderton) (L, 0-2) took the loss for Kutztown, allowing five runs (all earned) on five hits while striking out a pair across 2.1 innings. Jack Robinson (W, 1-0, who initially blew a save in the three-run seventh, positioned himself for the win after allowing three runs (all earned) and striking out a pair on two hits in his one inning of work.
The winning line for Shippensburg featured 11 runs on 15 hits and an error, while Kutztown had six runs on six hits and an error in defeat.
The two conference foes meet tomorrow, March 21, for an afternoon doubleheader at Shippensburg's Fairchild Field for games at 1 and 3 p.m. The Golden Bears return to North Campus Field for a midweek nonconference game against the Wilmington (Del.) Wildcats on Tuesday, March 24, with first pitch set for 3 p.m.
