HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The Juniata baseball team was on the wrong side of two high-scoring contests against the Wilson Phoenix, as they fell 25-11 in seven innings in game one and 13-11 in a game cut short by fading daylight in the top of the sixth inning.
The 25-11 loss comes despite grand slams in back-to-back innings to open the game; the first from Joey Allegrini to right center and the second from Michael Warren to dead center to level the game at nine each. In game two, the Eagles fell behind 13-11 before putting together an 11-run fifth inning, unable to find the answer before today's 7:15 pm sunset.
Warren was a triple shy of the cycle at the end of game one, going 3-for-4 with a walk and four RBIs via the grand slam. Allegrini also tallied four RBIs from his grand slam, while Dakotah Snyder went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a walk.
Harrison Leister came in relief following a nine-run first inning, providing two innings of one-hit relief with three strikeouts before the Phoenix returned to strong hitting form.
The Phoenix found nine in the first inning on eight hits, including a three-run home run, two infield errors for Juniata, and a couple of hit batters before Wilson left the bases loaded with a flyout as the Eagles found a way out.
Juniata swiftly responded as Snyder doubled, Joey Woodrow walked, and Evan Mock doubled to load the bases for Allegrini's grand slam to right center. Juniata then loaded the bases on single and two walks before conceding a strikeout and groundout, down 9-5.
Leister came on in relief and got to two outs before letting three straight runners on. With a 3-2 count, he caught the hitter looking for three third out of the inning.
Juniata leveled the game with five runs in the second, as two singles and two walks to score one run were followed by Warren's blast to center field, the second Juniata grand slam of the game. Following the homer, the Eagles left two runners stranded who got on base via walks.
Following the opening two innings that saw 18 total runs, the sides combined to get just one runner aboard in the third. The Phoenix found three more in the fourth inning via a three-run home run to center field, and Juniata answered back two runs via a Corey Daniels double down the right-field line, and a Snyder single down the line.
From there, the Phoenix soared with 13 unanswered runs across the final three innings, including an eight-run sixth inning for the 25-11 final score.
Game two saw Wilson step out to a 13-0 advantage, holding the Eagles to two hits before Juniata posted double-digits with 11 in a walk-ridden fifth inning for the Phoenix that gave Juniata sight of splitting the day before the stop for darkness early in the sixth inning.
David Beard cleared the deck with a three-run double in that inning to lead the team's run production.
Wilson again jumped on Juniata's starting pitching in the first inning with three runs before a flyout got Juniata out with the bases loaded. A sacrifice scored one more run for Wilson in the fourth inning before they doubled the advantage with five in the fourth inning, including a grand slam to dead center for a 9-0 lead. They found four more runs that proved necessary in the top of the fifth on six hits.
The first runner for Juniata got aboard on an error before being picked off at first base. From there, Juniata totaled nine runs on seven walks, two doubles, and a single before another out was recorded. The Phoenix found a strikeout before conceding an infield error that drove in more runs and then struck out the next batter to escape a monstrous inning.,
Wilson got the first runner aboard in the top of the sixth inning before the game was declared official at 13-11.
The Eagles return right back to action with a stop in Frederick for a single-game meeting against Hood at 3:30 pm tomorrow.
