WILMINGTON, Del. – The Bloomsburg University baseball team pushed its winning streak to eight games as the Huskies swept a Sunday doubleheader from Goldey-Beacom University. The Huskies took the first game 9-5 before outlasting the Lightning for a 5-2 win in a pitcher's duel in the nightcap. With the wins, the Huskies improved to 9-1 on the year while Goldey-Beacom dropped to 6-9.

Bloomsburg grabbed the early lead in the first game with a three-run first inning. Redshirt junior Christian Ciotti (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) reached on a one-out error by the Lightning shortstop before stealing second to get in scoring position. Junior Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) laced a triple to right to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. With two outs and a runner on third, Senior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) launched a home run to extend the Bloomsburg lead to 2-0. The Lightning hurler, B Spence, worked out of a bases load jam, however, and kept the damage to three runs.

Goldey-Beacom got a pair back in the bottom of the first thanks to a passed ball and a costly Bloomsburg error with two outs, but junior Nick Stoner (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) ended the scoring getting C Collins to strike out, Stoner's third of the inning.

The Lightning tied the game in the bottom of the second with an RBI single, but a double-play ball ended the second and kept the game tied.

The Huskies put together back-to-back two-run innings in the third and fourth to push their lead to 7-3 after four and a half innings. With runners on second and third, senior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) doubled down the right field line to plate sophomore Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) and Swiger and give Bloomsburg a 5-2 lead in the third. Junior Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) extended the lead to 6-2 with an RBI single in the fourth while Swiger hit a sac fly to left for the 7-2 Husky lead.

Stoner strung together three-straight scoreless innings on the mound for the Huskies, including pitching himself out of trouble in the bottom of the fifth. Ivan Solis led off the frame with a single down the left field line and advanced to second on a passed ball. After a foul out to left field, Tevin Thomas reached on a bunt single, and Solis advanced to third to put runners on the corners. Stoner got Marshall Awtry looking and ended the inning with an easy ground out to third.

The scoreless streak ended, however, as the Lightning got one run back with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to trim the lead to 7-4.

The Huskies answered in the top of the seventh, however, to push the lead back to five at 9-4. The first two runners for Bloomsburg reached base before senior Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) laid down a sacrifice bunt to third to push the runners to second and third. A sac fly from redshirt sophomore Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) that brought home Viggiano extended the lead to 8-4, and Ciotti singled to left to cap the Huskies scoring at 9-4.

Sophomore Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) came out in relief of Stoner in the bottom of the seventh for Bloomsburg, and Goldey-Beacom had runners on second and third thanks to a fielder's choice, stolen base, hit by a pitch and passed ball. Awtry drove in the game's final run with a ground out to shortstop bringing M Maxwell home.

Stoner earned his third win of the season on the mound for the Huskies after going 6.0 innings and allowing four runs, just two earned, on seven hits and two walks. Stoner struck out six.

Newbert went 3-for-4 for the game and drove in one run while scoring twice. Swiger drove in three runs as he went 2-for-3 and scored twice. Holmes collected two RBI as well as he went 1-for-1 at the plate, including three walks.

The second game had the makings of a true pitcher's duel before the Huskies plated four runs in the top of the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and get freshman Nate Baranski (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) his first win of the year.

Newbert gave the Huskies an early 1-0 lead as he launched a solo home run with two outs in the first. The Lightning went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first and second for senior Ed Herbener (Drums, Pa./MMI Preparatory School) while Bloomsburg got a pair of base runners in the second and third but couldn't extend their lead.

The Lightning had their first base runner of the game in the bottom of the third as Trent Hearn led off the inning with a walk, but Herbener got three-straight outs, including a strikeout to end the frame and keep Goldey-Beacom off of the board.

The Huskies went quietly in the top of the fourth before the Lightning tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Cole Collins grounded into a 6-3 double play, and Mason Maxwell scored for GBU.

Both the Huskies and Lightning went down in order in the fifth and sixth innings before Bloomsburg's offense came alive in the seventh.

OFier walked to lead off the seventh and eventually came home on sophomore Tyler Wiik's (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) single to right-center. Holmes followed with a single of his own to put two runners one. The Huskies strung together two RBI singles from Viggiano and Cooperman to extend the Bloomsburg lead to 4-1. Viggiano came home from third on a wild pitch to push the Huskies' lead to 5-1.

With two runners in scoring position and one out for the Lightning in the bottom of the seventh, B McCourt scored the game's final run coming home on a ground out from Hearn.

Baranski got the win for Bloomsburg after coming out in relief of Herbener in the fifth inning and going 3.0 innings, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out two. Herbener went 4.0 innings, allowed just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three.

Holmes went 2-for-3 with a run scored while four different Huskies drove in a run in the second game.

Bloomsburg returns to action on Friday, March 13, when they take the field at Danny Litwhiler Field for the first time in 2020. The Huskies host Kutztown at 2:00 p.m. for a single Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) contest.

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