MONT ALTO, PA – The Juniata baseball team (8-22, 2-16 Landmark) turned up the offense in game two in a doubleheader against Penn State-Mont Alto (16-15) to pull a series split Monday afternoon.
After the Nittany Lions took game one 11-1, the Eagles were fired up. Juniata won game two 13-9.
Penn State-Mont Alto answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.
In the top of the second, Juniata began pulling away from the Nittany Lions. With two outs and a Joe Klusman (Wilmington, DE / St. Elizabeth HS) on second, Nick Stubbs (Hagerstown, MD / South Hagerstown) singled and Klusman advanced to third. Stubbs would then steal second base with Tyler Morris (Ellicott City, MD / Centennial) up to bat. Morris hit a 2-RBI-single to bring in both Klusman and Stubbs. Sinisi took the plate next. Morris stole second and Sinisi was walked. Lombardo hit an RBI-single to bring in Morris and Juniata's second inning rally continued. After being hit by a pitch, David DeFreest (Duxburry, VT / Harwood Union) took first and the bases were loaded for Kyle Pannebaker (Thompsontown, PA / East Juniata). Pannebaker ripped a 3-RBI-double to clear the bases and put the Eagles up 7-1 in the second. Josh Keszczyk (Boyertown, PA / Boyertown Area) would groundout to end the inning.
Juniata blanked the Nittany Lions for the next two innings. The Eagles would score again in the top of the fourth with an RBI-single with two outs from DeFreest to bring in Lombardo.
Penn State-Mont Alto would have a four-run inning in the bottom half of the fourth to make the score 8-6. They scored one more run in the bottom of the fifth before Juniata answered with another big inning.
With one out and a runner on third, Lombardo hit a RBI-single to make it 9-7. DeFreest crushed the ball out of the park for a 2-run homer and the Eagles took an 11-7 lead. Before the inning was over, Klusman doubled to bring in Pannebaker. Juniata led 12-7 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
The Nittany Lions scored another run in the bottom of the sixth but Juniata answered with a run of their own with a RBI-single from Sinisi to bring in Morris.
That would be all the Eagles would need to do and they took game two 13-9.
Starting on the mound for Juniata in game two was Jonathan Geyer (Newport, PA / Newport High School). Geyer threw four innings, allowed nine hits, gave up six runs, walked one batter and struck out one. Brady Cotler (Chadds Ford, PA / Salesianum) was the relief pitcher and finished with six hits, three runs and five strikeouts.
The lone run for Juniata in game one came when Chris Schreder (Litiz, PA / Lancaster Catholic) hit an RBI-single that brought in Klusman.
The Eagles have a three-game conference series at home this weekend against Catholic (18-11-1, 9-9 Landmark). First pitch for Saturday, April 25 is at 1pm.
