THOMASVILLE, N.C. (March 6) – After rallying to score five unearned runs in the ninth inning, the Vulcans came back to earn an 8-5 victory against Lock Haven during non-conference play on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the California University of Pennsylvania baseball team snaps a six-game losing streak and improves to 4-7 overall. Meanwhile, the Bald Eagles fall to 4-3 on the year.
The Vulcans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth on two hits and one error. Senior center fielder
Mick Fennell (Butler, Pa./Butler) led off the inning with his fourth homer of the year before a sacrifice fly from junior catcher
Joe Yourgal (Millersville, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) allowed sophomore
Garrett Brooks (Connellsville, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) to score. Lock Haven cut the deficit in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer before posting four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-2 lead.
Cal U cut the lead by one in the top of the eighth after a fielding error and a walk allowed Yourgal and freshman designated hitter
Kristian Webb (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair) to reach base. Freshman right fielder
Eric Fairman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) drew a walk to load the bases before sophomore third baseman
Levi Krause (East Berlin, Pa./Spring Grove) was hit by a pitch, which scored Yourgal from third to make the score 5-3.
After the Bald Eagles stranded a runner in the bottom of the eighth, the Vulcans loaded the bases in the top of the ninth after Fennell and Yourgal drew walks and sophomore first baseman
Chris Wastchak (Peters Twp., Pa./Peters Township) reached base on a fielding error. Senior left fielder
Jared Grove (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) drew a bases-loaded walk to allow Fennell to score before sophomore
Brandon Warner (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove), who entered as a pinch runner for Wastchak, scored after a fielding error. Freshman
Nico Marchetti (Laurel, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) entered the game as a pinch runner for Yourgal and came around to score after Fairman hit into a fielder's choice to allow Cal U to take a 6-5 lead. The Vulcans tallied two more runs as Grove and Fairman came around to score on back-to-back RBI singles from McGrath and sophomore shortstop
Austin Logan (Beaver, Pa./ Beaver) to increase the lead to 8-5
Junior
Bobby Thompson (Blairsville, Pa./Blairsville) earned the win after pitching 2.0 innings in relief, allowing only one hit. Junior Jacob Belinda (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (none earned) on two hits and six walks in 2.1 innings of relief.
Fennell went 3-for-5 with a solo homer and two run scored, while Webb collected a pair of hits.
The Vulcans continue their North Carolina trip tomorrow, Monday, March 7, with a nine-inning game against Brevard (N.C.) at 12 p.m.
