HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College baseball team split its doubleheader against Landmark Conference rival Catholic University Friday afternoon on Langdon-Goodale Field. Juniata (5-13, 2-5 Landmark) dropped game one 8-0, but rallied to defeat the Cardinals 2-0 in the nightcap. Catholic moved to 16-8 overall, 5-3 in league play.
"I was happy with the way we came back," said head coach Jesse Leonard of the victory. "We struggled to get things going in the first game, but we had a spark there and kept playing and I'm happy with that. It's why we play two games and it gives us some momentum going into tomorrow."
Juniata is now 3-10 all-time against the Cardinals. The last game they took from Catholic was in 2011.
Defense was the key to the Eagles win in game two. Sophomore Chris Fulton (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) went 6.2 innings giving up just two hits until the seventh inning for his first shutout win of the year.
"He did everything we ask," said Leonard. "He attacked the zone, attacked hitters, kept the ball down, kept them swinging, let us play some defense and we couldn't ask for a better game."
Game One
Catholic's bats came out hot, putting up three runs in the first and two in the second before Juniata's defense settled in. Junior Joe Sforza (Pittstown, N.J./Immaculata) held the Cardinal scoreless with just one hit during the next three innings.
Robin Mowatt kept Juniata off the base path until the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Sforza singled through the right side. He advanced to second when the next batter grounded out to second. But Mowatt survived the inning by striking out the next batter.
Freshman Darrin Williams (Fayetteville, Ga./Sandy Creek) came in to close the top of the seventh. He gave up just one hit and struck out two.
Sforza (0-3) picked up the loss, while Mowatt (4-1) earned the win after pitching a complete game.
Game Two
Fulton got the start for Juniata in game two and opened by striking out the first batter. The defense would help sit down the next two.
This defensive stand proved to be the spark the Eagles needed to jump start their bats. Senior Ben Mersky (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) led off with a single to center field. After the next batter reached on an error by the third baseman, junior Dan Gray (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) singled to right field, scoring Mersky. An error by the right fielder would allow the second baserunner across and Juniata took a 2-0 lead on the play.
Fulton threw 3.2 hitless innings before Wes Stonelake singled to short. Catholic then managed to load the bases, but Fulton got the next batter to fly out to center and end the inning and the threat.
"It was great," Leonard added about the defense. "We made the plays we needed to play and we kept them off the bases and runners close. It was a complete game."
Catholic started to rally in the top of the seventh inning. Marc Hanna led off with a single through the right side. Then with one out, Pat DeToro hit one to deep left center that popped out of a diving Mersky's glove and put runners on first and second.
Pinch hitter John Palladino flew out right, putting the Eagles one out away from taking game two.
Fulton got behind in the count, 3-0, to Charlie Dillon then threw two straight strikes to load the count. His next pitch just missed on the outside corner to load the bases and end his night.
Junior Brad Medellin (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land) came in to face Nick Clary. With a 1-0 count, he got Clary to ground out to second, ending the game and giving Juniata its second conference win of the season.
Fulton improved to 1-5 with the win. Farley (3-1) earned the loss after giving up two runs on four hits in 5.2 innings. The save was Medellin's second of the year.
Leonard noted, "we need to do the same thing tomorrow. We know that we can play with anybody in the league and if we're playing good baseball and fundamentally sound baseball, then I like our chances."
The teams close out the series on Saturday, March 30 in a single nine-inning game at 12 p.m.
Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by logging onto www.juniatasports.net. And don't forget to follow us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).
