Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Senior Ryan Kirman (Little Silver, N.J./Red Bank Regional) belted three home runs while junior Damin Muth (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland) and sophomore Tyler Benson (Montville, N.J./Montville Township) each connected once as the Bloomsburg University baseball team swept the Bald Eagles of Lock Haven, 3-2 and 9-8, on a windy Saturday afternoon at Danny Litwhiler Field. The Huskies, who swept the Bald Eagles 9-5 and 4-2 on Friday in Lock Haven, extended their winning streak to a season-long six games and improved to 18-10 overall and 7-5 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. Lock Haven dropped to 13-14 overall and 5-7 in league play.
 
The six-game winning streak for the Huskies is the program's longest since winning eight straight from April 9 to April 18, 2014.
 
Both games on Saturday were won on solo home runs in, what proved to be, Bloomsburg's final at bat. Kirman crushed his second home run of game one to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning while Benson hit a mammoth round tripper over the right center field fence with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning of game two. In both games, Lock Haven threatened in the top of the seventh, but the Huskies were able to work out of jams to preserve the wins.

Kirman now has 14 home runs on the season, tying a school-record. Former major leaguer and Bloomsburg Hall-of-Famer, Matt Karchner, hit 14 round trippers during the 1989 campaign.
 
Game one proved to be a pitchers' duel between Bloomsburg senior righthander Alex Carpenter (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) and Lock Haven righthander Jacob Belinda.
 
The visitors scratched a run across in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Tyson Petersheim lifted a sacrifice fly to center field that plated Jimmy Webb, who drew a one-out walk, for the game's first run.
 
It remained that way until the bottom of the fourth when Kirman tied the game at 1-1, launching his first home run of the game to lead off the frame. It was Bloomsburg's first hit against Belinda.
 
Lock Haven got the run right back in the top of the fifth when Hunter Szaflarski scored on Carpenter's third wild pitch of the inning. But, in the bottom half, redshirt sophomore Austin Edgette (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI single that scored sophomore Shane Woelfel (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah). Woelfel led off the inning with a single, stole second, tand advanced to third on a wild pitch.
 
With the hit, Edgette extended his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games.
 
After Carpenter pitched around a pair of two-out singles in the top of the sixth, Kirman gave the Huskies their first lead of the game with his second home run of the contest to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
 
In the top of the seventh, the Huskies committed two errors that kept the Bald Eagles alive. Bloomsburg was aided, however, by a baserunning blunder by Lock Haven's Demetrius Haskins who came on to pinch run after the Huskies' first error. After another error ended up in left field, Haskins, who took a big turn around second, slipped and fell and Benson was able to throw behind the runner to nab him trying to get back. Then, with runners at first and second, Carpenter retired Webb on a foul popup to first to close out the contest.
 
Carpenter improved to 3-0 on the season and recorded his second complete game of the year. He allowed two runs on seven hits, walked three, and struck out five. Meanwhile, Belinda fell to 3-3 after allowing three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out 11.
 
Kirman had two of Bloomsburg's six hits while Sam Kysor and Jamie Eshelman had two hits apiece for Lock Haven.
 
Both teams exploded out of the gates in game two with neither starter getting out of the second inning.
 
The visitors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Bloomsburg redshirt junior righthader, Ryuta Amaike (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall). Matt Lahn got the Bald Eagles on the board with an RBI single and Nick Stotler followed with a two-run home run to left center.
 
But, the Huskies came back with four in the bottom of the first against Lock Haven starter Zach Manuppelli. Benson led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second when Edgette walked. Senior Joey Casselberry (Eagleville, Pa./Methacton) brought them both home with a two-run double to pull the Huskies within a run. After Kirman was retired for the first time on the day, Muth launched a two-run home run to center to give the Huskies a 4-3 lead after an inning.
 
Petersheim gave the Bald Eagles a 6-4 lead with a three-run home run to right center with one out in the second, ending the afternoon for Amaike. Sophomore Zach Newmyer (New Cumberland, Pa./Red Land) came on in relief and promptly loaded the bases before getting a popout to second to end the inning with no further damage.
 
The Huskies got all three runs back in the bottom of the second to take a 7-6 lead. Woelfel reached on an error and went to third on a single from Benson. Benson stole second and, when the throw sailed into center field, Woelfel trotted home from third for the first run of the inning. Benson, who advanced to third on the error, scored on an RBI groundout from Edgette. Two batters later, Kirman drilled his third home run of the day – 14th of the season – ending the afternoon for Manuppelli.
 
In the bottom of the third, Bloomsburg added a run against reliever Brett Morrison to take an 8-6 advantage. Senior Brian Almand (Haddon Township, N.J./Paul VI) reached on a one-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt. With two outs, Woelfel drove home Almand on a bunt single to third to give the Huskies a two-run lead.
 
But, no lead was safe in game two.
 
Eshelman drove home a pair in the top of the fourth inning against Newmyer with a two-run double, tying the game at 8-8.
 
Morrison settled down for Lock Haven and Newmyer pitched around an error in the fifth before giving way to freshman Logan Zavada (Forty Fort, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) in the sixth inning. The freshman righthander pitched a perfect sixth, which set up Benson's heroics in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Zavada came out to start the seventh and retired the first two batters he faced before running into trouble. Kysor kept the inning alive with a double to left field. Then, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases.
 
Bloomsburg head coach Mike Collins elected to bring in freshman righthander Ashton Raines (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) to pitch against the lefthanded Lahn. The move paid off as Raines struck out the Bald Eagles' cleanup hitter looking on four pitches to close out the contest.
 
Zavada picked up his first collegiate victory while Raines slammed the door for his third save of the season.
 
Morrison suffered the loss out of the bullpen, dropping to 1-2 on the year. He allowed two runs on five hits in three and two-thirds innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out eight.
 
Benson went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and the game-winning home run. Muth and Almand chipped in with two hits apiece. Edgette, meanwhile, saw his hitting streak end at 16 games. He went 0-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
 
Bloomsburg will look to keep the winning streak alive when it steps out of conference action to host Philadelphia University for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 6. First pitch of the twinbill is slated for 1:00 p.m.