The Lancaster Bible College baseball team opened North Eastern Athletic Conference play with a loss in game one to Penn St. Abington on Friday at Charger Field, 19-9, but rebounded in game two, and hold an 11-2 lead in a game that was suspended due to darkness in the seventh inning. For now, the Chargers' record stands at 10-6 overall and 0-1 in NEAC play, while the Nittany Lions are 9-7 overall and 1-0 in conference action.
As of Friday night, there is not a date to complete the suspended game two.
Penn St. Abington 19, Lancaster Bible 9 -- Game 1
Game Notes:
-Penn St. Abington opened the scoring in the top of the second inning, but Lancaster Bible responded in the bottom of the inning, as junior Will Welsh hit a home run on a rope over the right field fence
-The Nittany Lions scored four times in the top of the third, chasing Lancaster Bible starter Dan Zimmerman after just 2 1/3 innings
-The Chargers put the first two runners on in the bottom of the third, and then two of the first three runners on in the fourth, but could not bring any around to score
-Things went from bad to worse in the top of the fifth, as the Nittany Lions made it 7-1, before Joseph Rizzo hit a grand slam to give Penn St. Abington an 11-1 advantage
-Junior Colin Myers had an RBI groundout in the bottom half of the fifth, but the Nittany Lions tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth
-Lancaster Bible made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth, as Welsh connected for his second home run of the day, and then the Chargers scored five more runs, and made it a 14-8 game, but couldn't plate any more runs in the inning
-Penn St. Abington got the runs back in the top of the seventh, as Ryan McCarty hit the Nittany Lions' second grand slam of the day, and put the Chargers away for good
Inside the Box Score: Lancaster Bible actually held a 13-11 edge in hits, but Chargers' pitchers issued 16 walks and hit five batters...Welsh finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI for the Chargers, while Josh Mayer, Sam Taylor and Matt Taylor each had two hits as well...Sam Taylor finished 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, while Mike VanDame was 1-for-1 with two RBI and a walk...Rizzo finished 2-for-5 with six RBI for the Nittany Lions.
Lancaster Bible 11, Penn St. Abington 2 -- Game 2 (Play Suspended -- Top 7th)
Game Notes:
-After Penn St. Abington scored twice in the top of the first, Lancaster Bible responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, as Sam Taylor hit a solo home run to center field
-Lancaster Bible starter Noah McMullen kept the Nittany Lion batters in check after the first, and the Chargers' offense erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, and five more in the bottom of the fifth
-Zack Leonard worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the sixth, before play was suspended following the bottom of the sixth
Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts Penn St. Berks on Sunday...First pitch of the doubleheader will be at 1 p.m.
