Penn State Behrend box score
Susquehanna box score
FORT PIERCE, Fla. --- The Elizabethtown College baseball team opened its 2010 season with two games at the Lawnwood Complex Sunday afternoon, falling 10-6 to Penn State Behrend in game one and defeating Susquehanna University 7-6 in the nightcap.
Against Penn State Behrend, the Blue Jays held leads of 3-0 and 5-4 but the Lions used a pair of three-run innings to erase the deficits. Elizabethtown finished with a 12-8 advantage in hits but left 12 runners on base, while
Adam Hartzell (0-1) gave up eight runs (five earned) on eight hits in five innings of work.
Dillon Tagle had a successful collegiate debut for Elizabethtown, going 3-for-3 with two doubles, two walks and two runs scored, while
Ben Yeager finished 2-for-5 with two runs batted in and
Matt Vinagro finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
Ed Kessler hit a home run for the Lions (1-0) and Ryan Zamiskie earned the save by striking out six over four scoreless innings of relief. In all, Penn State Behrend pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts in the contest.
Against Susquehanna, the Blue Jays (1-1 overall) scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to erase a 6-3 deficit, then scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth on a groundout by
Steve Shuleski that drove home Yeager with the eventual winning run.
Greg Katz (1-0) scattered three hits over 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory for Elizabethtown, and Vinagro tossed a perfect ninth to pick up the save. Keith Needham (0-1) took the loss for the Crusaders (0-1) as he allowed three runs in four innings of relief.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the second on an RBI single by Vinagro and a groundout by
Rodney Francis, but the Crusaders went ahead 3-2 in the fourth on a two-out, three-run double from Justin Portzline off Elizabethtown starter
Anthony Heaps.
Elizabethtown came back in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score on a fielder's choice grounder by Vinagro, only to see Susquehanna go on top 6-3 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Pat Murphy, an RBI single by Ethan Rieker and a double by Ken Kayama. The Blue Jays scored three times in the bottom of the fifth to chase Crusader starter Matt Lottes, as Yeager drove home a run on a fielder's choice and Shuleski added a two-run single.
Yeager scored three runs and drove in another for Elizabethtown, while Francis finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two steals and Tagle drew three walks and scored two runs. Portzline and Kayama each went 3-for-5 for Susquehanna, which finished with 13 hits as a team but left 12 runners on base.