AUBURNDALE, Fla.- The Juniata baseball dropped both ends of a doubleheader against Keuka, falling 8-7 (eight innings) and 17-7, Friday morning at the Russmatt Invitational.
The Wolves got on the board first via homerun in the top of the first and pushed two more runs across in the bottom of the third. In the top of the fourth, the JC bats started to do damage. Josh Keszczyk (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown Area) led off with a walk and Devyn Carper (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) got all the way to second on an error by the shortstop. Dillon Hippensteel (Dilllsburg, Pa./York Catholic) plated Keszczyk with a groundout to short. Chris Schreder (Lititz, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) followed with a homer to tie things up at three.
An RBI-single by Carper in the fifth gave JC the lead back before Keuka responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-4. In the top of the sixth, Isaac Maclay (Belleville, Pa./Mifflin County HS) singled and wound up cross the plate on a throwing error by the first baseman to tie the score at 5-5.
The Eagles went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh. In the bottom half of the inning, the Wolves had runners at second and third with one out. Jesse Beeler (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) struck out the next batter and induced a ground out to second to get out the inning.
Maclay hammered a two-run shot over the wall to put JC up 7-5. But Keuka rallied with five singles and an error to take the first game 8-7.
Keuka scored two runs in the top of the first of game two to take an early lead. With the bases loaded, Adam Kipp (Mt. Wolf, Pa./Northeastern) drove in a run via a catcher's interference. Keuka scored six runs on six hits in the second to push their lead to 8-1. A sac fly by Hippensteel in the bottom half the inning made it 8-2.
In the top of the third, Hippensteel walked with the bases loaded and Schreder drove in two runs with a two-run single to make it 8-5. Keuka scored five runs in the fourth and tacked on one more in the fifth to extend their lead to 14-5.
An RBI double by Kipp in the bottom of the sixth plated Maclay and Kipp scored on an error by the shortstop to make it 14-7. The Wolves tallied three more runs in the top of the seventh as they took the second game.
Juniata wraps up their Florida trip with a game against Lawrence tomorrow 10:30 a.m.
