The Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball team (3-0, 0-0) picked up a huge 7-4 win over Lackawanna (1-3, 0-0) in their Myrtle Beach opener on Monday. Junior Matt Smith (North Versailles, PA./East Allegheny HS) provided the spark his team needed going the distance in the win making his second start of the season.
After throwing four shut out innings in his season opener, it was more of the same from the right hander as he powered through the first three innings. He allowed just three people to reach and needed just 25 pitches to keep Lackawanna off the board.
They would get the bats going after a single and an error put two runners on with nobody out before Blake Flocker (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) would get his team on the board with an RBI infield single scoring Brian Koglin (Fox Chapel, PA./Fox Chapel HS) to give PSUGA a 1-0 lead.
PSUGA would keep it going, taking advantage of a Lackawanna mistake when Randy Berroa (Harlem, NY./Norman Thomas HS) tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt. The Falcons pitcher would throw the ball down the right field line and two more runs would score to give PSUGA a 3-0 lead. They added one more on a Jordan Williams (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) RBI single to end the inning and found themselves ahead 4-0 after four.
Smith would continue to mow down the competition putting up scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth before running into his first jam of the game with runners on first and third and two away in the bottom of the sixth. Smith got the pop up he needed but an error in the field allowed two runs to score cutting the PSUGA lead to two. After another walk put the tying run on base, Smith got a huge strikeout to end the inning and keep his team ahead.
His offense would pick him up in the top of the 7th after Koglin doubled to start the inning he would be brought home on another Lackawanna error and PSUGA was up by three. The final blow would come with two outs and runners at second and third. Marcos Lopez (Caglas, Puerto Rico/Ramey HS) found a hole on the right side of the infield bringing home two and giving PSUGA a 7-2 lead.
Lackawanna put up two more in the bottom of the seventh, but Smith ended the game on a strikeout and gave PSUGA their third straight win. Smith went the distance gicing up four runs, two earned, while walking three and striking out three to earn his second win of the season.
PSUGA now moves to 3-0 on the season and kicks off their Myrtle Beach trip with a win for the second year in a row. They took down one of the top Junior college teams in the country giving them a lot of confidence as they head into the rest of the week.
PSUGA continues their spring training trip on Tuesday when they take on fellow Penn State University Athletic Conference foe PSU-Schuylkill at 10 a.m.
