BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – A two-run eighth inning lifted the Bloomsburg baseball team to a 7-5 road victory at Lock Haven on Thursday.
The score was tied at 5-5 in the top of the inning until
Brady Ebbert (Etters, Pa./Red Land) and
Wyatt Metzger (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) had RBI singles to give the Huskies (6-6, 2-1 PSAC East) the two-run lead over the Bald Eagles (7-6, 1-2 PSAC East), which was enough for Bloomsburg to hold on for a win. The contest wrapped up a three-game series as the teams met last Saturday for a doubleheader at Bloomsburg. The Huskies won two of the three games in the series to improve to 2-1 in conference play.
Bloomsburg's
Matt Vernieri (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) earned the win on the mound by throwing eight innings in relief, allowing just one unearned run and three hits while striking out eight hitters. Lock Haven's Matt Pennoni was charged with the loss, and he was one of five pitchers used by the Bald Eagles as the Huskies scored seven runs on 12 hits.
Leading the way at the plate for Bloomsburg was Ebbert, who had a monster game by going 4-for-4 with a walk, two runs batted in and two runs scored.
Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) went 3-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, and
Dansby Keenan (Cleveland Heights, Oh./Benedictine) was a perfect 2-for-2 with one run scored. Metzger was 1-for-3 and scored once to go along with his clutch RBI single in the eighth, and
Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) had an extra-base hit with a two-run double in the top of the first inning.
A sacrifice fly by
Brandon Ernst (Limerick, Pa./Spring Ford) in the top of the first scored the first run of the game, then Gibble's two-run double made the score 3-0 early on. The Bald Eagles would answer in a hurry, however, by scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 4-3 lead after one inning of play.
The pitching staffs would be able to settle in from that point and held one another off the scoreboard for the next two innings. Both teams traded runs in the fourth, then the Huskies were able to tie it up at 5-5 when LaBarbera had an RBI single up the middle that allowed Ebbert to score.
Both teams were then held scoreless until Ebbert and Metzger gave the Huskies the final edge with their heroics in the eighth.
Bloomsburg is scheduled to host Shippensburg on Friday at 2:00 PM. The Huskies will then travel to Shippensburg on Saturday for a doubleheader.
