CRESSON, PA – After battling to regain the lead, the Juniata baseball team (7-18, 2-13 Landmark) found themselves tied at 8 with Mt. Aloysius (15-13) after seven innings in game one of Tuesday's doubleheader. David DeFreest (Duxburry, VT / Harwood Union) won the game with a sacrifice fly that brought in Tyler Morris (Ellicott City, MD / Centennial). The Eagles would settle for a split with the Mounties, winning game one 9-8 and losing game two 0-2.
Juniata took a 5-0 lead early in game one. The Mounties put up one run in the bottom of the second but added six in the bottom of the third to take a two-run lead. In the top of the fourth, the Eagles tied the game at 7 with a sacrifice fly from DeFreest that allowed Chris Sinisi (Altoona, PA / Altoona Area) to score.
Brady Cotler (Chadds Ford, PA / Salesianum) hit an RBI-single in the top of the sixth to give Juniata a one-run lead. Mt. Aloysius tied the game in the bottom of the seventh but the Eagles were able to keep them from walking off with the win.
With one out and bases loaded, DeFreest brought in the game-winner for game one.
J.D. Weyant (New Paris, PA / Chestnut Ridge) was the starting pitcher for Juniata. Weyant tossed six innings, allowed seven hits, walked five batters and gave up seven runs. Wayne Hydak (Northern Versailles, PA / Serra Catholic) came in for relief and earned his first win of the season. Hydak threw one strike out, gave up two hits and allowed one run. Ichiro Narita (Brooklyn, NY / Brooklyn Latin School) got his first collegiate save when he took the mound in the eighth and kept the Mounties off the board.
Game two between Juniata and the Mounties was a pitcher's duel. There were only a combined eight hits between the two teams. Juniata's Zach Seyko (Laurel, MD / St. Vincent Pallotti) only gave up one hit and his relief, Jonathan Geyer (Newport, PA / Newport), gave up two.
Mt. Aloysius picked up two runs, one in the third and one in the fourth, to take the win from Juniata in game two.
The Eagles had five hits in the game but were unable to score a run, so they settled for a split with the Mounties.
Juniata will play a three-game series at Moravian over the weekend, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 18.
