The Lancaster Bible College baseball team lost the opening game of its three-game series with Penn St. Berks on Friday, as the Nittany Lions crushed the Chargers, 21-1 at Charger Field. The loss drops Lancaster Bible to 8-13 overall and 4-6 in North Eastern Athletic Conference play, while the Nittany Lions improved to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in NEAC action.
 
How it Happened: Penn St. Berks scored twice in the second inning, and then scored four more times in third, as Toby Welk homered in the third for the Nittany Lions, and Joe Gramignano added a two-run single. Josh Saufley homered in the home half of the third inning to cut the Chargers' deficit to 6-1, but that would be all of Lancaster Bible's offense on Friday.
 
Penn St. Berks sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth inning, as the visitors scored nine runs, including a three-run home run from Welk, and a two-run double and home run from Eric Gale. The Nittany Lions had just three hits in the inning, as the Chargers committed two errors, and walked four batters. Gale homered again in the fifth, and the Nittany Lions scored three times in the sixth and twice more in the seventh.
 
Inside the Box Score: Lancaster Bible managed just five hits on Friday, as Luis Padilla Jr., Will Welsh, Jacob Schenck, Colin Myers and Saufley had hits for the Chargers…Saufley finished 1-for-3 with a walk and RBI…Welk finished 3-for-6 with five RBIs and four runs, while Gale was 4-for-5 with four runs and four RBIs…Alex Laudenslager pitched seven strong innings for Penn St. Berks, as he allowed just one run and struck out three…Four Lancaster Bible pitchers combined to allow 14 earned runs and nine walks.
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 5-26 all-time against Penn St. Berks…The Chargers have lost four straight games to Penn St. Berks, and haven't defeated the Nittany Lions since April 1, 2017 when the teams split a doubleheader in Reading, Pa…Welsh extended his hitting streak to 13 games and now has 40 hits this season.
 
Up Next: The same two teams will meet on Saturday in Reading, Pa., as a doubleheader is scheduled for 12 p.m.