HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata baseball team earned two big conference wins on Saturday afternoon, winning both games of their home doubleheader with Elizabethtown. After winning the first game 6-4, they went on to take a 7-4 victory in game two.
Both offenses did much of their scoring early on in game one, with Elizabethtown scoring three of their four total runs in the top of the second while Juniata scored five of their six total in the bottom of that same inning. Three hits along with an HBP facilitated E-Town's three runs in the top of the inning, but the Eagles would immediately respond with their own bats. Joey Woodrow (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine-Richland) began the inning with a single, before Michael Warren (New Berlin, Pa. / Mifflinburg Area) followed it up with a double to left center field, advancing Woodrow to third. Corey Daniels (Vandling, Pa. / Forest City Regional) reached on first on a walk with one out, with senior Roberto Barranca (York, Pa. / Calvert Hall) then hitting an RBI single that brought Woodrow home and advanced the other runners. A bases-loaded walk for Joey Allegrini (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey) scored Warren, and the Eagles were not yet done doing damage. After a strikeout got the second out, Dakotah Snyder (Lewisburg, Pa. / Lewisburg) came to the plate and ripped a single down the right field line, scoring Daniels and Barranca while moving Allegrini to third base. Jake Swank (Portage, Pa. / Portage) kept the hits going, bringing Allegrini home for the fifth run of the inning. Woodrow would then come up for his second plate appearance of the inning, ending the inning with a groundout to first. The damage had been done however, with the Eagles now owning a 5-3 lead. The Blue Jays would get one run across in the top of the third but were stymied for the remainder of the game while the Eagles reasserted their two-run advantage with an RBI single from Snyder in the bottom of the sixth. Starter Chase Alessandroni (Royersford, Pa. / Springford) earned his third win of the season, giving up four runs on nine hits while striking out five batters in his seven innings of work. Relievers Luke Pastor (Camp Hill, Pa. / Trinity) and Dominic Hoyle (Woodbridge, Va. / Garfield) combined for two shutout innings to finish out the game.
Game two would provide another strong all-around performance from the Eagles, with starter Drew Westover (Burnham, Pa. / Mifflin County) getting the win after pitching five innings while allowing only one run on four hits and striking out three batters. Jack Johnson (Alexandria, Pa. / Juniata Valley) came in to provide three innings of long relief work, before making way for Hoyle in the ninth to close it out, earning his second save of the day. The Eagles' offense was buoyed by a number of strong performances, particularly from Isaac Maclay (Belleville, Pa. / Mifflin County), who went 3 for 5 in the game while launching two doubles to deep left center field and picking up three RBIs. Allegrini also hit well, going 2 for 3 at the plate, scoring three runs, and launching his third home run of the season over the left field fence in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The wins move Juniata to 8-14 on the season and 3-7 in the Landmark. They'll take the field with Elizabethtown again tomorrow for the final game of the weekend series and a chance to earn the series sweep.
