Hot Bats, Strong Pitching Lead Lions to 20-2 Victory
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona baseball stormed out to a 9-2 lead Wednesday afternoon and never looked back, as the Lions posted a lopsided 20-2 win over visiting Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Pitt-Greensburg at Stewart Athletic Field.
Penn State Altoona's (13-14, 4-6 AMCC) offense continued to click, putting 20 runs on the board while blasting seven home runs, tying for the most home runs in a game in Lions history. The home team's total of 22 hits was also tied for the seventh-most in a game, helping propel the squad to an 18-run victory over Pitt-Greensburg (8-17, 6-5 AMCC).
On the mound, Ryan Schellhase (Fayetteville, PA/Chambersburg) tossed his second consecutive complete game and picked up his fifth win of the season. The right-hander limited Pitt-Greensburg to two runs while walking four, scattering eight hits, and recording two strikeouts.
Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) tied Penn State Altoona's single-game records for home runs and RBI, hitting three home runs and driving in eight while going 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) was 4-for-5 with two home runs, three RBI, and three runs scored.
Judd Dasso (Brentwood, TN/Brentwood) was 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, and two RBI. Cole Strick (Windber, PA/Windber) hit 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs scored, and Devin Colón (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall) went 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, two runs scored, and one stolen base, tying former Lion Jimmy Baum's single-season stolen bases record with 27. Jarek Szaflarski (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
Pitt-Greensburg got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, when the Bobcats used an RBI double by Tommy Smith and a run-scoring single from William Somers to establish the early advantage.
But Penn State Altoona answered with a nine spot in the bottom of the first to take charge. Rauch's two-run homer to center tied the score, and Aidan Donovan's (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) RBI single to right center put the Lions on top, 3-2. One batter later, Strick hit his first home run as a Lion, a three-run shot to left center that made it 5-2. Two batters after that, Dasso's RBI double to left gave Penn State Altoona a four-run advantage, and Chelli hooked a two-run homer inside the left-field foul pole to make it 9-2.
The Lions maintained their seven-run lead until the bottom of the third, when they added on for six more runs. Rauch knocked his second homer of the day, a three-run blast to right field, and Ingold hit a two-run bomb to right center to make it 14-2. Colón's RBI base hit up the middle put Penn State Altoona's lead at 15-2.
In the fifth, Ingold hit his second long ball of the day, a solo homer over the right-field fence that made it 16-2.
Penn State Altoona capped the scoring in the sixth. Dasso's RBI single to left made it 17-2, and Rauch lifted his third home run of the day, a three-run homer to left, to increase his team's lead to 20-2.
Penn State Altoona completes its three-game series with Pitt-Greensburg this Saturday, April 18, traveling to Greensburg for a pair of games starting at 1 p.m.
