Penn State Scranton Drops Close Slugfest to Valley Forge
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 1 |
By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics
On a frigid Tuesday afternoon on the campus ballpark, the Penn State Scranton Lions baseball squad lost by the slimmest of margins in a 14-13 slugfest to the visiting University of Valley Forge Patriots in highly competitive non-conference action. The Lions pounded out 20 hits and walked 11 times in the high scoring shootout, while the Patriots only had seven hits but flooded the base pads by walking seven times and reaching base eight more times via hit by pitch. With this nail biting defeat, Scranton's overall record falls to 0-4 on the young baseball season heading into the start of the all-important conference play this upcoming weekend, as the Lions have now lost three times this season to the Patriots, as they opened up on the road back on March 10th dropping 20-7 and 10-7 decisions respectively.
What looked like a would-be blowout that saw Valley Forge sprint out to an early 11-2 dominant advantage headed into the bottom half of the sixth inning, would soon turn out to be a super close ball game, as the Lions ferociously roared back and showed tremendous resiliency and grit, as they would outscore their opponent 11-3 the rest of the contest, as they scored four runs in the sixth inning, two more in the seventh, and an impressive five run spot in their final at bats in the bottom of the ninth inning to fall just short by only a mere run when the 27th out was recorded. Scranton's powerful offense was led by three prodigious home runs on the day, as sophomore stand-out catcher Cole Bannan smashed a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the third inning, freshman third baseman Zachary Benson hammered a three run shot in the sixth to left, and last but not least, senior right fielder Joe Talutto connected on a three run shot of his own to right as his squad was rallying back in the ninth frame. Overall Scranton had five players on the day with multi-hit ball games, as Bannan went 3-5, scoring five runs, walking twice, with 2 RBI, and a stolen base to boot. Benson also went 3-5, with a game-high 5 RBI, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Talutto went 2-6, with 3 RBI, a single, and a run scored. Junior Mark Longo went 2-5, walked twice, and scored a run. Sophomore first baseman Sean Hervatic went 3-5, crushing three singles, walking once, and scoring a run. A final notable mention goes to senior shortstop Carson Cacioppo, who reached base four times, as he had a trio of walks, and a solid opposite field single to right field.
Meanwhile for Valley Forge, they had two players with stalwart multi-hit games, as freshman first baseman Carlos Terc and junior third baseman Allan Goodwin led the way for their ball club. Terc went 2-4, scoring three runs, with 2 RBI, and two bases on balls. While Goodwin also went 2-4, scoring a run, walking once, and driving home two runs of his own.
On the pitching side of things, Scranton had five hurlers take the mound in the matinee, as Hervatic, Charles Kellogg, Garrett Walsh, Benson, and Bannan all toed the rubber for the hometown Lions. As for Valley Forge, they had seven pitchers get some pitching time in the contest, as Andruw Cook, Kaden Gonzalez, Jack Qualteria, Kyron Baker, Pat Trevillion, Derek Garcia, and Stephen Brice all got to throw.
New Scranton interim head coach Collin Ferguson was very happy with the non-stop fight his ball club showed throughout the game. "It was a great team game, everyone contributed. I saw some good fight in them, I'm really happy how they fought back and got after it. Just some little mistakes that wind up getting us in the end, but going into conference play, I'm really confident in our bats, and if we just clean up some of the small stuff then we are going to be right in there with them," said coach Ferguson.
Now Penn State Scranton will look to capture their first win of the season when they kick-off their crucial conference play schedule this Friday, March 25th on the road against rival Penn State Hazleton with first pitch at 3:30pm.