HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Late offensive sparks from Mt. Aloysius resulted in the Juniata baseball team being swept by the Mounties Wednesday afternoon. The Eagles fell 8-7 in game one and 8-5 in game two.
Juniata was having success at the plate throughout the doubleheader. Joe Klusman (Wilmington, Del. / St. Elizabeth High School) and Devyn Carper (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) each went 4-for-7 in the series. Klusman and Isaac Kline (Everett, Pa. / Bedford) tied for a team-leading four RBI on the day.
JC had to get the bats going early when Mt. Aloysius took a 2-0 lead into the bottom half of the first. Carper hit a leadoff single to get the inning started. Anthony Lombardo (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) moved Carper to second on a sacrifice bunt that set up Chris Schreder (Lititz, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) for the RBI-single. Schreder then stole second before Klusman approached the plate. Klusman knocked in Schreder with an RBI out to left. Juniata evened the score at 2 to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, the Mounties held a 3-2 lead over the Eagles.
Carper led off with a single up the middle. Lombardo singled through the left side. A bunt-single from Schreder would load the bases for Kline with no outs. Kline ripped a double out to the left corner of the field to bring in Schreder, Lombardo and Carper. A sacrifice bunt from Klusman would move Kline to third. Zach Tobash (Macungie, Pa. / Allentown Central Catholic) flew a sacrifice fly out to right field to bring in Kline and Juniata would take the lead 6-3.
The score would remain 6-3 until Mt. Aloysius tacked on three runs in the fifth to tie the game.
Juniata was once again looking to their bats to get moving. Schreder led off the inning with a single through the left side and then stole second with Kline at the plate. Klusman singled to short to move Schreder to third. Tobash hit a sacrifice fly out to right field to bring in Schreder and get Juniata back on top.
The Mounties scored two runs in the top of the seventh to take an 8-7 lead over Juniata. Rodney Patterson would get Mt. Aloysius out of the inning and lead the Mounties to victory in game one.
Hunter Price (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon Area) started on the mound for Juniata and tossed 5.0 innings, striking out two batters. Ichiro Narita (Brooklyn, NY / Brooklyn Latin) relieved Price for 0.2 innings before Chris Sinisi (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) took the mound and closed out the game.
Mt. Aloysius would get on the board first in game two as well. The Mounties picked up one run in the top of the second and would hold onto the slim 1-0 lead until the fifth inning.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Sinisi would lead off with a homerun out to left field. Nick Stubbs (Hagerstown, Md. / South Hagerstown) would hit a bunt-single one out later. Carper turned on the gas when he singled to the shortstop and beat the throw.
Following a pitching change from the Mounties, Lombardo loaded the bases on a single out to left center. Kline drew a walk with two outs and bases loaded to tie the game up at 2. Klusman followed with a 3RBI-single out to left field that forced another pitching change from Mt. Aloysius. The five-run inning gave Juniata a 5-2 lead over the Mounties.
Mt. Aloysius took back the lead with four runs in the sixth. They would add on two more runs before finishing the game with an 8-5 victory.
J.D. Weyant (New Paris, Pa. / Chestnut Ridge) tossed 5.0 innings on the mound for Juniata and struck out three batters. Wayne Hydak (North Versailles, Pa. / Serra Catholic) took the mount in the sixth and tossed 0.2 innings. Jon Geyer (Newport, Pa. / Newport) and Alex Matoushek (Scranton, Pa. / West Scranton) finished the game for the Eagles.
Juniata looks ahead to a Landmark Conference series against Elizabethtown. They will play a single 9-inning game Fri. at 3:30 p.m. and a doubleheader Sun. at 1:00 p.m.
The Vs. Cancer Series against Elizabethtown will culminate the fundraising efforts of Juniata for the foundation. The Eagles have currently raised $3,240 and are still pushing towards their $5,000 goal. To donate to Vs. Cancer Foundation on behalf of the Juniata baseball team visit team.vs-cancer.org/fundraise/team?ftid=64157. Half of the money raised goes to national childhood cancer research and the other half goes to the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.
