ABURNDALE, Fla.-The Juniata baseball team put up 14 runs in the first three innings as they rode that offensive explosion to a 17-8 victory over Becker College, Tuesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Stadium.
Walks by Devyn Carper (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) and Jake Swank (Portage, Pa. / Portage) were followed by an Adam Kipp (Mt. Wolf, Pa. / Northeastern) single through the left side which sent Carper home and got Swank to third. Isaac Maclay (Belleville, Pa. / Mifflin County High School) mashed a double to left to advance Kipp to third and score Swank to double the Eagle advantage. Three batters later, Kipp scored on a Colton Kubicki (York, Pa. / West York)s' fielder's choice to put the Eagles ahead 3-0 early. A sacrifice fly from the Hawks made it 3-1 after the first.
In the top of the second, Carper again reached safely, this time on a single to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Kipp ripped a double to left center to make it 4-1. Matt Innella (Commack, N.Y. / Commack) wacked a double to right center to get Kipp home. Hunter Price (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon Area) got to first via an error by the short stop while Innella advanced to third. Kubicki walked to load up the bases and William Duffy (Bronx, N.Y. / Fordham Prep/Clark University) did not disappoint. He sent a single up the middle to score two more runs as the Eagles led, 7-1. The Hawks struck twice in the bottom half of the inning to get within four, 7-3.
The third inning is where the Eagles truly pulled away as they double their score behind three hits, three walks and two big errors by the Hawk defense as Juniata's lead ballooned to 14-3 by the end of the inning.
Becker added two runs in the fourth while the Eagles added one run in the fifth and another in the sixth. In the bottom half of the sixth Becker tallied three more runs, but the Eagles still led comfortably 16-8. JC scored a final run in the ninth to cement the win.
Austin Suders (Marion, Pa. / Chambersburg Area) tossed five innings while allowing six hits, five runs and striking out three to get the win. Dominic Hoyle (Woodbridge, Va. / Garfield) gave the Eagles a strong two innings of relief as he struck out five of the nine batters he faced.
Juniata is off tomorrow before they face Suffolk in a doubleheader. First pitch is at noon.