AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Juniata baseball team fell in a tight battle against Centre College, 8-7, in their third game of the team's spring break trip in Florida at the RussMatt Invitational.
The Colonels were first to score, a two-run homerun allowing Centre to take the lead early on. The team scored another pair of runs in the second, but JC battled back in the third and fourth innings to make the score 4-2 after solo dingers from Devyn Carper (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) and Chris Schreder (Litiz, Pa./Lancaster Catholic), marking Carper's first career homerun.
The Eagles put on a strong offensive showing in the bottom of the fifth to go up 6-5 after Centre put up another run in the top of the inning. Josh Keszczyk (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown Area) doubled, scoring on a wild pitch, to start the rally. Carper and Dillon Hippensteel (Dillsburg, Pa./York Catholic) both singled and advanced to scoring positions on a wild pitch. The duo scored on Isaac Maclay's (Belleville, Pa./Mifflin County High School) single and an error by the pitcher, and Adam Kipp (Mt. Wolf, Pa./Northeastern) crushed a triple to send Maclay home.
Centre tied things up in the sixth, and neither team was able to gain the advantage through the seventh. JC made a big third out in the eighth, throwing the go-ahead run out at the plate, and scored another in the bottom of the inning off doubles from Maclay and Kipp to go up 7-6. The Colonels answered back in the ninth to pick up their final two runs, ultimately taking the game 8-7.
Hippensteel went 3-5 with a double while Kipp went 3-4 with a double and a triple.
JC faces off with Keuka Friday morning in a doubleheader as they continue their Florida trip.
