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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University baseball team exploded for 16 runs, taking advantage of some St. Thomas Aquinas miscues, en route to a 16-4 victory over the Spartans on a sunny, but blustery Tuesday afternoon at Danny Litwhiler Field. With the win, the Huskies improved to 11-6 overall and evened the season series against St. Thomas Aquinas at two wins apiece. The Spartans, meanwhile, dropped to 9-12 overall on the year.

The Huskies scored 16 runs on just ten hits against five St. Thomas Aquinas pitchers on Tuesday afternoon. The Spartans made six errors in the field while their pitching staff walked 12 Bloomsburg batters, hit three more, uncorked two wild pitches, and also committed a balk on the day. All told, the five St. Thomas Aquinas pitchers threw a total of 215 pitches throughout the contest. Redshirt junior Tyler Patane suffered the loss as he dropped to 1-3 on the season after allowing ten runs (nine earned) in two and one-third innings. He only allowed four hits and struck out five but also walked five and hit two others.

On the flip side, freshman Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) rebounded after a shaky start to toss six strong innings for the Huskies to improve to 2-0 on the year. He allowed four runs on seven hits, walked two, and struck out seven. Redshirt junior James Reardon IV (Springfield, Pa./Springfield), senior Jeremy Zezza (Exeter, Pa./Wyoming Area), and junior Brett Alaimo (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) closed out the contest with each pitching a scoreless inning of relief. Reardon IV was making his fourth appearance of the season while Zezza and Alaimo took the bump for the first time in the 2019 campaign.

The Spartans threatened in the top of the first against Marshman as they loaded the bases with two outs before the freshman righthander was able to strike out Kyle Lagrutta looking to end the rally. After the Huskies went three-up and three-down in the home half of the first, Marshman was not as fortunate in the second as St. Thomas Aquinas took a 3-0 advantage. After getting runners to second and third with one out, Andrew Jemison doubled down the left field line to plate the first two runs of the contest. Angelo Baez followed with a run-scoring single to drive home Jemison extending the lead to 3-0. Marshman got out of the inning with any further damage as he got help from sophomore Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) who threw out Baez trying to steal third to end the inning.

It was all Huskies from that point as they scored eight times on only three hits in the bottom of the second to take an 8-3 lead. Burcin, senior Ryan Shiffer (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South), and junior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) drew three consecutive walks which loaded the bases to start the inning. After a strikeout, freshman Tyler Wiik (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) delivered the Huskies' first hit - a two-run single to left - to cut the deficit to 3-2. Freshman Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) walked to reload the bases and then sophomore Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) was plunked to plate Holmes for the game-tying run. Junior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) followed with a popup that dropped into no man's land beyond the shortstop to bring home Wiik and to give the Huskies their first lead of the game at 4-3. Sinatore then trotted home on a wild pitch for a 5-3 advantage before sophomore Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) hit a fly ball to right field that was dropped which allowed both Reed and Swiger to score for a 7-3 lead. OFier scored the final run of the inning on a balk to balloon the margin to 8-3.

All told, Bloomsburg sent 13 men to the plate in the second inning and scored eight runs on three hits, five walks, a hit batter, two errors, and a balk.

Marshman retired the Spartans in order in the third, and the Huskies went right back to work at the plate as they added two more runs to take a 10-3 lead. Swiger drove home the first run with an RBI single and Burcin followed, later in the inning, with a sacrifice fly. Bloomsburg extended the margin to 12-3 with two more runs in the home half of the fourth. Reed singled down the right field line to score junior Nate Krizan (Montoursville, Pa./Home School) who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Swiger followed with a run-scoring double to drive home Reed for the second run of the inning.

The Spartans got one back in the top of the fifth, off of Marshman, on an RBI groundout from Brian Donnelly. Bloomsburg, meanwhile, scored its final four runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) led off the inning with an infield single which was followed up by walks to OFier and Shiffer to load the bases. Holmes then deposited an 0-1 offering from Reyan Mustafoski over the center field fence for a grand slam home run to push the lead to 16-4. It was his first round-tripper of the year after entering with six home runs in his first two seasons.

Holmes finished the day 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a home run, and four runs batted in. Swiger went 3-for-5 with three RBI while Reed, Cooperman, Wiik, Sinatore, and redshirt sophomore Christian Ciotti (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) accounted for the other five Bloomsburg hits on the afternoon. Jemison and Baez each had two of St. Thomas Aquinas' seven hits on the day.

Bloomsburg returns to conference action on Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30, for a four-game series against Kutztown University. The teams will open the series in Kutztown on Friday before heading to Danny Litwhiler Field on Saturday. First pitch of both doubleheaders is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.