BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – A pair of big innings in each game led to Bloomsburg and West Chester splitting a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Danny Litwhiler Field.
The No. 16 nationally ranked Golden Rams took Game 1 after a six-run third inning lifted them to an 8-3 victory, then the Huskies won the second game 13-1 after seizing control with a seven-run fourth inning.
Redshirt senior
Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) homered in each game to bring him to 35 career home runs, which is tied with fellow teammate
Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) for second all-time in program history. Matt Karchner (1986-89) holds the record with 37.
Game 2 saw the Huskies hit four total home runs and record 13 hits from eight different players to pick up their double-digit victory. After the Golden Rams scored one run in the top of the first to get out to a 1-0 lead, Bloomsburg tied things up when
Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) scored on an RBI double by Newbert. In the next at-bat, OFier drove in
Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) on a sacrifice fly to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
The game was broken open one inning later when Bloomsburg batted around in the lineup and scored seven insurance runs on five hits, two of which were homers. Defensive struggles by the Golden Rams also kept the Huskies alive throughout the inning as West Chester had three errors in the frame.
Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty), who led off the inning by reaching on an error, scored on dropped fly ball for the first run. Then, Gibble drove in Metzger on an RBI single.
Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) then scored on an error and a three-run blast by Newbert made it an 8-1 contest. Two at-bats later, Ernst hit a solo shot to extend the lead to 9-1.
Bloomsburg tacked on three more in the seventh as Metzger and Gibble homered to center field. Metzger's two run shot and Gibble's solo HR made it 12-1 and an RBI single by
Adam Gates (Swedesboro, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) in the bottom of the eighth made it 13-1, which is where things stayed.
Redshirt junior
Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) improved to 6-1 on the season as he allowed just one run and struck out 10 through 6.1 innings.
Mason Keene (Bear, Del./Appoquinimink) and
Logan Hile (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) combined to throw 2.2 scoreless innings in relief, striking out a total of four hitters and allowing just one hit.
Metzger, Ernst, Newbert and Gibble all homered and had two-hit games. Burcin also went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Newbert led the way with four RBI and Metzger had three.
In Game 1, it was Bloomsburg jumping out to an early lead after Newbert hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. But West Chester responded in the third with a six-run frame to regain the lead and momentum. The Golden Rams scored six runs on three hits and the rally was capped off by a two-run home run. West Chester added on two more runs in the top of the sixth and despite Bloomsburg scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth on a
Tyler Wiik (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) single, the Golden Rams held on for an 8-3 win.
Seven different hitters had one hit in the first game as Wiik and Newbert drove in the team's three runs. Ernst doubled and scored a run while Gibble and Newbert scored the other two runs.
Bloomsburg (15-10-1, 7-3-1 PSAC East) will travel to take on West Chester (17-4, 6-2 PSAC East) on Monday to take on the Golden Rams for a single game. The contest is a make-up game that was originally scheduled for Friday and was postponed to Sunday, but weather forecasts have now pushed the game to Monday.
