MADISON, NJ – The Drew Rangers pitching staff played lights out on their way to a doubleheader sweep of the Juniata Eagles Saturday afternoon. Drew took game one by a 6-1 decision and held off the Eagles 3-2 in game two.
The Rangers got ahead of the Eagles 1-0 on an unearned run in the bottom of the first. Juniata immediately responded on a homerun from Isaac Kline (Everett, Pa. / Bedford), the first of his collegiate career.
Drew opened up the offense in the second and took advantage of a pair of errors to take a 6-1 lead. A pitching duel between Caleb Pepperday (Phillipsburg, Pa. / Phillipsburg-Osceola) and Drew's Patrick Boyle would then ensue as Juniata tried to gain ground on the Rangers.
Pepperday tossed 4.2 innings and gave up just two hits while striking out one batter. Hunter Price (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon Area) started on the mound for the Eagles and tossed one inning. J.D. Weyant (New Paris, Pa. / Chestnut Ridge) would relieve Price briefly before Pepperday took the mound.
Juniata got on the board first in game two on a solo-homerun from David DeFreest (Duxburry, Vt. / Harwood Union) in the top of the third. DeFreest now leads the Eagles with four homers this season.
The Rangers would respond with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead 2-1.
Heading into the top of the seventh, Drew held a 3-1 lead over Juniata. Anthony Lombardo (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) rippled a leadoff double down the left field line to get the Eagles started. With two outs, Chris Schreder (Lititz, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) knocked in Lombardo with an RBI-single up the middle. Zach Tobash (Macungie, Pa. / Allentown Central) continued the seventh inning rally with a double down the left field line, advancing Schreder to third. The Rangers' pitching staff would retire the final out moments later to halt the rally and take the win, 3-2.
Kline tossed a complete game for the Eagles and recorded four strikeouts.
Juniata looks ahead to a joint practice with the Altoona Curve at Peoples Natural Gas Field Tues. April 5 before hosting a non-conference doubleheader Thurs. April 7 against Mt. Aloysius at 1:00 p.m.
The Eagles return to conference play Sat. April 9 against Elizabethtown for the Vs. Cancer Series. Juniata will be packing Langdon-Goodale Field for the 1:00 p.m. doubleheader as part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's Division-III week activities.
The Eagles have currently raised over $2,800 for the Vs. Cancer Foundation and are still welcoming donation. Half of the money raised will go to benefit national childhood cancer research and the other half will go to the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. Fans can donate online at team.vs-cancer.org/fundraise/team?ftid=64157.
