CALDWELL, N.J. – The Kutztown University baseball team headed east to face the Caldwell Cougars on Tuesday afternoon, falling in a 9-5 contest at Kiwanis Oval in the team's final scheduled non-conference affair.
The Golden Bears (16-21 overall) matched its opponent in the first inning, but after that, the Cougars (13-23) put up three frames of at least one run, including a four-run seventh that served as the game's margin of victory.
Things got started with outfielder
Bo Barthol (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland) reaching via walk, and after advancing twice on a fielder's choice and a double steal, the junior leadoff man was able to cross home thanks to a
Michael Burns (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) groundout.
Caldwell managed to knot the game with some good baserunning in the bottom of the inning, and was able to cross the plate two times in each of the second and third innings for a 5-1 lead. Kutztown slowly chipped away in the three innings that followed, with left fielder
Aiden Soumas (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood) sending home a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and doubling in the sixth to record another tally and draw within one.
The Cougars felt the urge to respond, and did so to the tune of four runs on five hits in the seventh. While the eighth inning was the lone shutout inning for both teams, the ninth saw a brewing opportunity for KU, one that included a pair of defensive miscues and a
Drew Wheeler (Waxhaw, N.C./Marvin Ridge) single that sent home catcher
Preston Warne (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth), but two quick putouts sealed the game for Caldwell.
The teams had some solid days from its offensive players, with four of the six extra-base hits on the day being triples. Barthol, whose lone hit was a triple, managed a pair of walks and two runs scored, both to lead the team.
Dalton Furst (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) went 2-for-4 on the day with a run, while Soumas sent home two of the team's five runs in defeat.
Zack Wertman (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) (L, 2-1) was the front man in the Golden Bears' loss, hurling 83 pitches across four innings while striking out three. Caldwell, playing a bullpen game, gave enough support to starter Jovani Hallihan (W, 3-1), who didn't allow a hit but saw one cross the plate in a pair of innings.
The winning line saw Caldwell score nine runs on 14 hits while committing an error, while Kutztown had five runs on seven hits and an error in defeat.
The Golden Bears will host its final series at North Campus Field on Friday, April 24, with first pitch times set for 1:00 and 3:30 p.m. against the Millersville Marauders. The team will follow that up with a doubleheader at Millersville the next day before ending the regular season with games against East Stroudsburg at Allentown's Coca-Cola Park and up north in Stroudsburg.
