Washington, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball Team (5-9, 2-1) allowed 10 runs in the top of the second inning on Wednesday that led to them falling to Point Park (26-2, 15-0) 13-3 in seven innings. PSUGA battled throughout but, in the end, it wasn’t enough for them to be able to complete the comeback.
Zack Craven (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport) made his first start of the season for PSUGA and things were looking good early on. Craven tossed a 1, 2, 3 top of the first before the PSUGA bats were able to take the lead in the bottom half. Adam Jacko (North Versailles, PA./East Allegheny) led off the inning with a walk and moved up on a walk and a fielder’s choice. He would then scamper home on a wild pitch to give PSUGA the early 1-0 lead.
However, the lead would be short-lived as Craven could not record an out in the second inning and allowed 10 runs to score. The big blow was a grand slam by Reynaldo Adames that opened up the lead to 8-1. Point Park would never look back from their never leading by less then nine runs for the rest of the game.
PSUGA was able to respond to the 10-run inning with a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Pedro Escobar (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy) that brought the score to 10-2. Point Park added two more runs in the top of the fourth and a run in the top of the 6th to push the score to 13-2.
With the 10-run rule in effect, PSUGA had one more chance in the bottom of the 7th to try and get back in the game. They brought home one run on an RBI ground out by Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) that scored Jacko, but that is all they would get and the game would come to an end with Point Park taking the 13-3 victory.
PSUGA picked up five hits on the day including a 2-3 effort from Caleb Smith (Irwin, PA./Norwin). Escobar had the most productive day at the plate going 1-2 with an RBI and Jacko reached base three times going 1-2 with two walks. Craven lasted just one inning in his start giving up 10 runs, nine earned, on six hits while walking three and striking out one.
The PSUGA bullpen did a nice job of shutting things down after the rough second inning only allowing three earned runs. Zach Schmader (South Park, PA./South Park) threw five innings while giving up three earned runs on five hits while walking seven and striking out two and Marcos Lopez (Caglas, Puerto Rico/Ramsey) added a scoreless inning giving up one hit.
PSUGA returns to Penn State University Athletic Conference play on Friday when they take on Penn State Mont Alto at 2 p.m. It will be the first of a three-game series with the two teams set to square off in a doubleheader on Saturday.
