BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University baseball team hit seven home runs on Saturday afternoon and got strong pitching performances from freshman Michael Standen (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) and redshirt sophomore Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) as the Huskies opened a four-game weekend series with a sweep of visiting Lock Haven University. Bloomsburg won game one by a 10-6 final and then completed the sweep with a 10-4 victory in the nightcap to improve to 15-11 overall and 15-11 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division standings. Meanwhile, the Bald Eagles dropped to 5-17 overall with an identical mark in conference action.

After a scoreless first inning in game one, Lock Haven got on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning against Standen. The Huskies answered in the home half as senior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) belted a solo home run off of Bald Eagles' starter, Scott Leitholf, to get Bloomsburg on the board. It was Holmes' second round-tripper of the year and the 17th of his collegiate career. Redshirt junior Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) followed with a single and, two batters later, senior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) drilled an 0-2 pitch from Leitholf over the right-center field fence to give the Huskies a 3-2 advantage. It was Swiger's third home run of the year and the 24th of his career.

Standen breezed through the next two innings, and the Huskies continued to add to the lead as they scored two in the third and two in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead. Redshirt junior Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) provided the offense in the third with a two-run single that scored redshirt junior Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) and redshirt sophomore Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven). Then, in the fourth, redshirt junior Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) had a two-run double to plate both redshirt junior Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) and Swiger to give the Huskies a five-run lead.

Lock Haven loaded the bases against Standen in the top of the fifth before the freshman left-hander struck out Jake Mastillo to end the threat. The bats took advantage of the momentum as the Huskies plated two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to push the margin to 9-2. Holmes reached on a leadoff walk and then scored on a two-run home run from senior Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) for the offense in the inning. The home run was Sinatore's sixth of the year, tying him with OFier for the team lead.

The visitors struck for three runs in the top of the sixth inning against redshirt freshman reliever Alex Cornell (Drexel Hill, Pa./Archbishop Carroll). But, Chasanov got a run back in the bottom of the sixth with his fifth home run of the year to give the Huskies a 10-5 advantage.

Lock Haven tallied an unearned run off of redshirt freshman Logan Hile (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) in the top of the seventh for the final margin.

Standen improved to 2-2 on the season after allowing two runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out four. Cornell pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed two earned runs, while Hile allowed an unearned run in an inning and a third while striking out two. Leitholf dropped to 0-3 on the year after allowing three runs in two innings. Four Bald Eagle relievers combined to allow seven runs on six hits and seven walks over the final four innings.

The Huskies had nine hits in the opener, with OFier the only batter with more than one hit. He finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Bloomsburg, in fact, had all nine starters either score a run or drive in a run in game one.

Game two featured the pitching of Marshman and the bat of Swiger as the Huskies completed the sweep. Marshman tossed his first career complete game while Swiger was a single shy of hitting for the cycle as he finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and five runs batted in. The five RBI were two shy of his career-high of seven against West Chester during the 2019 PSAC Tournament.

Things started inauspiciously for the Huskies as the defense committed two errors on the first two batters in the top of the first inning to allow Lock Haven to score an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead. The Huskies scored an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the first against Bald Eagles' starter David Keller to tie the game at 1-1. OFier had the run-scoring single to bring home Chasanov, who reached on a one-out error.

Lock Haven scored another unearned run in the top of the second to take a 2-1 lead. But, Newbert led off the home half with his second home run of the season to tie the game at 2-2. The round-tripper was the 18th of his collegiate career. Two batters later, Swiger tripled to right field and then came in to score on an RBI double from Viggiano to give the Huskies a 3-2 advantage.

Marshman cruised through the next three innings as he allowed only a two-out infield single in the top of the fourth during the stretch. The offense, meanwhile, continued to provide support as the lead grew to 10-2 after five innings.

Bloomsburg scored twice in the third on a two-run double from Swiger to push the margin to 5-2. Chasanov then launched the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth over the center-field fence for his second home run of the day and sixth of the season to give the Huskies a 6-2 lead. Chasanov moved into a three-way tie with OFier and Sinatore for the team lead with the home run.

Then, in the fifth, the Huskies added four runs to build an eight-run cushion. Newbert led off with a single and then advanced to second when Sinatore was hit by a pitch. Swiger then belted his second home run of the day, fourth of the season, and 25th of his career, to put three runs on the board for a 9-2 Bloomsburg lead. Chasanov provided the other run with an RBI groundout that plated Reed, who followed Swiger's at-bat with a single.

The Bald Eagles got the bats going in the top of the sixth against Marshman as the first four batters of the frame singled with the final hit from Joe Shannon bringing home a pair of runs to cut the Huskies' lead to 10-4. But, Marshman got escaped the inning without any further damage and then pitched around a hit and an error in the seventh for his first career complete game.

Marshman improved to 2-1 on the year as he allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out a career-high-tying eight batters. The right-hander threw 95 pitches on the afternoon - 70 for strikes - and recorded eight ground ball outs. Keller, meanwhile, suffered the loss as he fell to 1-4 on the season for Lock Haven.

The Huskies had 12 hits in the nightcap, with Swiger and Newbert each recording three to lead the way.

Bloomsburg and Lock Haven will conclude the weekend series on Sunday afternoon in Lock Haven. The first pitch from Watkins Field is scheduled for noon.