HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata baseball team lost to Chatham 16-11 on Thursday afternoon, despite a late comeback effort. The loss drops the team to 3-4 on the season after their loss to Penn St.-Berks on Wednesday.
The game began with each team scoring a run in the first inning before Chatham added three more in the top of second. Scoring then went quiet for both teams before an RBI single from Jr Harrison (Windsor Mill, Md. / Dulaney) made the score 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Chatham's offense would then explode for 12 unanswered runs between the sixth and eighth innings, with the Eagles unable to find an answer on the mound. Juniata would finally notch one in the bottom of the eighth courtesy of an RBI single from senior Brandon Ashurst (Cherry Tree, Pa. / Northern Cambria). They entered the bottom of the ninth inning down 16-3, but refused to go quietly, scoring eight runs in the final frame.
Sophomore John Karcher (Garden City, N.J. / Garden City) led off the inning with a single, eventually coming around to score on an RBI single from freshman Sebastian Tringali (Stephenson, Va. / Millbrook). Chatram Persaud (Jamaica, N.Y. / John Bowne) was the next to score, thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Roberto Barranca (York, Pa. / Calvert Hall). Tringali scored next after Aaron Bollinger (Millerstown, Pa. / Greenwood) reached first on an error. Bollinger and fellow sophomore Corey Daniels (Vandling, Pa. / Forest City Regional) both scored after a two-RBI single from catcher Ryan Hughes (South Harrison Twp., N.J. / Kingsway Regional). After batting through the order, Karcher returned to the plate and knocked a two-RBI single of his own, before coming home as the last run of the game after an RBI single from Persaud. The momentum would ultimately stall there, and the Eagles could not make up the remaining five runs.
The baseball team will next hit the road for their conference opener against Moravian this weekend, before returning home to host Dickinson on Tuesday, March 22nd at 3:30 PM.
