KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg baseball team fell to Kutztown by a final score of 6-5 during an exciting 10-inning game Friday afternoon.
The Huskies (9-11, 4-6 PSAC East) trailed until the tail-end of the ballgame as they were held scoreless by the Golden Bears (17-9, 4-3 PSAC East) until the eighth inning, which is when the Bloomsburg offense erupted for four runs to give the team a 4-3 lead.
Bloomsburg's big eighth inning began with back-to-back singles by
Alex Ruiz (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) and
Eli Riley (Harrisburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) to start the inning.
Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) then earned a walk to load the bases with no outs.
Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) then knocked in the team's first run as he reached on a fielder's choice, but Kutztown was unable to get anyone out on the play as everyone reached safely and Ruiz scored from third.
During the next at-bat,
Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) put the ball in play and everyone reached safely once again as an error by the Golden Bears allowed another run to score to make it a 3-2 game.
Brandon Ernst (Limerick, Pa./Spring Ford) then knocked in the team's third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly, and
Dansby Keenan (Cleveland Heights, Oh./Benedictine) gave Bloomsburg its first lead of the game as he capped off the four-run inning with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Bloomsburg added an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single by Gibble, but Kutztown tied it up in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run rally to force extra innings.
In the 10
th inning, Bloomsburg got its leadoff runner aboard when Ernst reached first on a catcher's interference call.
Christian LaBarbera (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) was called on to pinch run, and the sophomore was able to get into scoring position with one out after stealing second base following a fly out. Kutztown pitcher Gavin Moretski was able to get out of the jam unscathed, however, by drawing a groundout and fly out to end the inning.
In the bottom half of the 10
th, Mitchell Peers got on base with a one-out double, and the graduate student eventually scored the game-winning run on a Cole Regn single to give the Golden Bears a one-run victory.
At the plate for Bloomsburg, Riley was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Gibble knocked in two runs and was 1-for-5 with one run scored. Ernst and Keenan were also credited with RBI's on the day, and Ruiz went 2-for-3 with one run scored.
On the mound,
Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) went seven strong innings and struck out eight while giving up two earned runs on six hits.
Matt Vernieri (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) threw 2.2 innings and struck out three while giving up two earned runs on five hits, and the junior reliever was given the loss.
With his eight strikeouts, Marshman climbed into the No. 2 spot on the all-time strikeouts list as he now has 202 for his career. He surpassed Ashton Raines (2016-2019) for the No. 2 spot, and now trails just Chad Cooperman (2017-2021), who holds the career record with 221 strikeouts.
The three-game conference series between the two teams will continue on Monday with a doubleheader at Danny Litwhiler Field in Bloomsburg. The first game is scheduled to take place at 12:00 PM on Monday.
Originally, the home doubleheader was scheduled for Saturday, but it has been pushed to Monday due to projected inclement weather.
