NORTH WALES, Pa. – Led by a solid day at the plate, the Bloomsburg baseball team beat Chestnut Hill in an away non-conference game by a final tally of 9-4 Friday evening.
The Huskies (19-13, 10-8 PSAC East) got out to a three-run lead after the first inning, and they rode the early lead to beat Chestnut Hill (14-23, 8-9 CACC) by five runs.
Wyatt Metzger (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) got Bloomsburg's offense started with a three-run homer in the top of the opening inning, then an RBI single by
Tyler Wiik (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) in the third put the Huskies up 4-0.
Chestnut Hill got one run back in the fifth with an RBI single, but a two-run homer by
Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) in the top of the sixth put Bloomsburg on top 6-1. The Griffins scored again in the sixth on another RBI single, but Viggiano homered for the second time in the game in the top of the ninth to put the Huskies back up by five.
Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) then hit a two-run home run to put Bloomsburg up 9-2, and the squad was able to hang on for the win despite Chestnut Hill scoring two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a homer.
On the mound,
Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) tied the program's all-time record for strikeouts after striking out six hitters in four innings. The Berwick, Pa. native is now tied with Chad Cooperman (2017-21) for the school's all-time career record with 221 strikeouts. Marshman allowed just three hits and no runs to pick up his fifth win of the season.
Additionally, the Huskies used three more pitchers in
Scott Gilbert (Scranton, Pa./Abington Heights),
Mike Cacioppo (Springfield, N.J./Jonathan Dayton) and
Michael Standen (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) to close out the win. The three pitchers combined to strike out four hitters and allow three earned runs on five hits in five innings.
At the plate, the Huskies had five hitters with two hits as the team finished with a total of 12 hits. Viggiano led the way with two homers, three RBI's and three runs scored while going 2-for-4. Metzger and LaBarbera both singled to go along with their homers, and
Dansby Keenan (Cleveland Heights, Oh./Benedictine) and
Brady Ebbert (Etters, Pa./Red Land) both had two hits.
Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) doubled and Wiik had an RBI single to bring the team's hit total to 12.
Bloomsburg will be back in action with another road game at Indiana (Pa.) on Tuesday at 2:00 PM.
