Abington Rallies Past Lions, 9-6
AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Penn State Altoona baseball got back at it Thursday morning, when the Lions suffered a 9-6 defeat at the hands of Penn State Abington at Mickey Etherton Field during the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
Abington (9-3) scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but Penn State Altoona (2-6) responded with three of their own in the bottom of the first to tie the score. The Lions jumped ahead, 5-3, in the fifth, but Abington surged back on top, powered by a five-run seventh, to earn its ninth consecutive victory.
Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) went 3-for-5 to lead the Lion bats, hitting his first home run of the season, scoring three runs, and having one RBI. Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
Owen Dombrosky (Hollidaysburg, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) had a triple, three RBI, a run, and a walk, and Nate Osteen (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) also tallied one RBI.
Michael Labisi (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) started on the rubber and finished with a no-decision, tossing five innings and striking out five batters along the way. Ryan Schellhase (Fayetteville, PA/Chambersburg) tossed 1 1/3 innings in relief and was saddled with the loss, Ryan Jackson (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) pitched 2/3 inning and allowed no earned runs, and Preston Farabaugh (Ebensburg, PA/Penn Cambria) went two scoreless, hitless innings.
Abington made it 3-0 in the top of the third, using a John Busco RBI single to left and a Jaxon Horvath two-run base hit to right center to establish an early lead. Penn State Altoona countered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, as Dombrosky's two-run triple to right center and Ingold's run-scoring double to left center tied things up, 3-3.
The teams remained tied until the bottom of the fifth. Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall) drew a leadoff walk, Rauch followed with a single, and Chelli stole third to put runners at the corners. Dombrosky's RBI groundout to second put Penn State Altoona in front, and Osteen's RBI hit up the middle one batter later made it 5-3.
Abington dug into the Lions' lead in the top of the sixth, when Aqual Chapman's RBI double to left made it a one-run game, 5-4. However, Penn State Altoona avoided further damage in the inning when it forced Abington to leave the bases loaded.
But Abington pushed ahead with five runs in the top of the seventh. Zach Bauers' two-run homer to left gave the visiting team a 6-5 lead, and an error two batters later allowed another run to come home. Chapman scored on a wild pitch shortly after that, and a Mike Brocco RBI single to center put Abington ahead 9-5.
The Lions got a run back in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out homer to right field by Rauch. But Penn State Altoona was unable to generate any more offense, taking a three-run loss to its Penn State counterpart.
The Lions continue their Florida schedule tomorrow, Friday, March 13, with a doubleheader against Gordon College at Lake Myrtle Park's field 4. First pitch of game one is 2:45 p.m.
