Butler, Pa- In their first games back from a Spring Training trip in Florida, the Greater Allegheny baseball team suffered a double-header sweep at the hands of USCAA foe, Southern Virginia. SVA cruised to a 12-1 win in Game 1, and then held off a GA surge to win 6-4 in Game 2.
Southern Virginia got the bats going early in Game 1, scoring seven runs in just the first four innings. GA would get their lone run across in the bottom of the fourth, when Senior second baseman Teddy Fricke (Carrick, PA) scored on a walk, after singling earlier in the inning. Southern Virginia would tack on five more runs in the sixth, cruising to the 12-1 victory.
Senior pitcher Jonathan Lutz (West Mifflin, PA) suffered the loss, and was knocked around most of the afternoon. Lutz (1-3) struck out six batters, giving up 11 runs on 12 hits, over 5.2 innings. Sophomore Brian Balagurchik (Notre Dame Academy, VA) pitched 1.1 innings of strong relief, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. Junior catcher Josh Kubisz (Goose Creek, SC) earned the lone RBI, when his walk scored Fricke. Five GA players each recorded 1 hit: Sophomore center fielder Zak Schmidt (Moon, PA), Teddy Fricke, Sophomore first baseman Adam Wehr (Northwestern Lehigh, PA), Sophomore catcher Bill Hodgetts (West Mifflin, PA) and Freshman shortstop Tyler Thellman (Blackhawk, PA).
In Game 2, Southern Virginia again got out to a quick lead, scoring a run in each of the first three innings. Three more runs in the top of the fifth then pushed their lead to 6-0. In the bottom of the fifth, GA would get on the board via a Zak Schmidt single up the middle, scoring Freshman outfielder Zach Zeroski (West Allegheny, PA). Junior Mike Visloski (West Allegheny, PA) came on in relief of Freshman starter Eddie Emes (New Brighton, PA) in the sixth, and kept Southern Virginia off the scoreboard.
In the GA sixth, back-to-back singles from Adam Wehr and Sopohmore Sam Weightman (Penn Trafford, PA) allowed Freshman Oliver Girman to step up and blast a 3-run homer to left center field, brining GA to within two. A scoreless top of the seventh gave Greater Allegheny a chance, but with runners on second and third with two outs, they were unable to get the tying run across.
Eddie Emes (1-1) was saddled with the loss, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits, through 5.0 innings of work. Emes also struck out 2, and walked 3. Zak Schmidt, Adam Wehr, and Freshman catcher Clay Groff (Allderdice, PA) all had 2 hits on the day, with Oliver Girman driving in 3 runs with his sixth inning home run.
The two losses drops Greater Allegheny to 5-7 overall, as they get set to host SUNY-Canton tomorrow afternoon. First pitch of Game 1 is set for 11:00 PM.
