WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Bloomsburg baseball team split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader on the road Monday.
The Huskies (14-12, 8-7 PSAC East) had a four-game win streak snapped by losing the first game 3-1, but the squad responded with a big 9-4 win over the Golden Rams (20-10, 7-5 PSAC East) in the second game to keep their hot streak going.
In the first game, West Chester’s offense struck early as a three-run second inning proved to be the difference maker in what was an evenly-matched contest.
The Golden Rams were able to load the bases with two outs following a walk and back-to-back singles. A pair of RBI singles during the next two at-bats then gave West Chester a 3-0 lead.
Bloomsburg scored in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Dansby Keenan (Cleveland Heights, Oh./Benedictine), but that would prove to be the Huskies’ only run as the Golden Rams held on for the two-run win.
Both teams finished with six hits and an error. Julian Costa got his second win of the year for West Chester after striking out two and giving up just one run. Nate Baranski (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) struck out seven in six innings on the mound for Bloomsburg but was chalked with the loss.
In the second game, Bloomsburg was able to strike first as a two-run single by Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) in the top of the opening inning gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless second and third inning, the Huskies then pieced together a five-run inning in the fourth to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The team’s big fourth inning began when Alex Ruiz (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) walked with the bases loaded to score Bloomsburg’s first run of the frame. The at-bat was followed by a two-run double by Eli Riley (Harrisburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy), then Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) walked to load the bases once again. Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) had an RBI single, then Wyatt Metzger (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) knocked in the final run of the inning when he grounded out to the shortstop.
West Chester scored one run in the fifth, but Bloomsburg added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth and the ninth to make it a 9-1 game. The Golden Rams would score three in the bottom of the ninth, but the tying run was never brought to the plate as relief pitcher Brandon Walters (York, Pa./Central York) was able to record the final out.
Walters threw two innings in relief for Scott Gilbert (Scranton, Pa./Abington Heights), who recorded his second win of the season after striking out seven hitters and allowing just one earned run on four hits in seven innings.
At the plate, six different hitters recorded at least one RBI as the Huskies received hits from seven different hitters for a total of 11.
Riley, Metzger, and Chasanov led the way with two RBIs, and Viggiano, Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), and Alex Ruiz (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) each had one.
Brandon Ernst (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford), Viggiano, Metzger, and Riley all had two-hit games.
With the win in game two, the Huskies improve to 8-7 in conference play, which is fifth in the division. Additionally, Bloomsburg is now 7-2 in its last nine games.
The doubleheader closed out a three-game series with West Chester, which saw Bloomsburg win two of the contests.