BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg baseball team completed a three-game sweep over Fairmont State by beating the Falcons 9-3 Sunday afternoon at John F. Babb Field at Bloomsburg Area High School.
 
The Huskies (4-5, 0-0 PSAC East) scored a combined eight runs across the third, fourth and fifth innings and used some solid pitching to hold the Falcons (1-9, 0-0 MEC) scoreless through eight innings of play, and to just three runs on seven hits.
 
On the mound, Scott Gilbert (Scranton, Pa./Abington Heights) got the start and pitched four scoreless innings while striking out four hitters and allowing  three hits. Michael Standen (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) pitched 4.2 strong innings in relief and had three strikeouts to pick up his second win on the year.
 
Offensively, the Huskies put up eight runs on eight hits on Fairmont State's starting pitcher, Jacob Young. The offensive output began in the third inning when Wyatt Metzger (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) knocked in the first run of the game on a single up the middle to the second baseman. Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) was hit by a pitch during the next at-bat in a bases-loaded situation to score another run, then Brandon Ernst (Limerick, Pa./Spring Ford) had a two-run single to left field that scored Metzger and Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven). During the play, LaBarbera was tagged out at third after trying to advance an extra base during the throw home to the plate to end the inning.
 
In the fourth, Eli Riley (Harrisburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) stretched Bloomsburg's lead to 5-0 when he hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Bryce Porter (Lincoln University, Pa./Perkiomen) from third base. Then in the fifth, Bloomsburg's offense put up three more runs to make it an 8-0 game and put the contest away.
 
Bloomsburg's runs in the fifth inning came on a two-run single by Ernst and an RBI double down the right-field line by Porter. Brady Ebbert (Etters, Pa./Red Land) had an RBI single in the seventh to make it a 9-0 game, and Fairmont State would score three in the ninth, but the Huskies would be able to shut the door on the Falcons' comeback. Matt Vernieri (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) pitched against the final batter and a groundout to Tyler LePage (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) at third ended the game and stranded two runners.
 
Seven different players for Bloomsburg accounted for the team's 11 hits. Porter, Ebbert, Viggiano and Ernst all had two-hit games. Ernst's big day in the box included four RBI's and one run scored. Porter had a double for the team's only extra-base hit. Metzger, Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson), Riley and Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) all recorded singles.
 
The victory concluded a three-game sweep over Fairmont State as the Huskies beat the Falcons twice on Saturday. Bloomsburg's offense came alive during the weekend series as the team put up a total of 24 runs on 34 hits in 23 innings of play.
 
Bloomsburg will look to keep up its winning streak with on Tuesday with a non-conference doubleheader against Le Moyne (5-4, 0-0 NE10) at home. The game is scheduled to begin at 12:00 PM at Danny Litwhiler Field on Bloomsburg's upper campus.