BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg baseball team scored early and often as it used a big day at the plate to run away with a 16-5 win over West Chester on Friday at Danny Liwthiler Field.
The Huskies (13-11, 7-6 PSAC East) scored 10 runs across the first four innings to get out to a double-digit lead, and the squad proceeded to score six more runs across the final four innings to hold onto its comfortable lead despite a five-run seventh inning by West Chester (19-9, 6-4 PSAC East).
The victory extends the team's winning streak to four, and the Huskies have been on a hot streak as they have now won six of their last seven games. The team's win streak has coincided with some big games offensively as the team has put up a total of 48 runs on 53 hits in its last three contests.
Friday against West Chester, Bloomsburg scored 16 runs on 20 hits that came from eight different players. Of the team's 20 hits, 10 were extra-base knocks.
Eli Riley (Harrisburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) had a team-high four hits as he went 4-for-6 with three runs batted in and two doubles.
Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) and
Dansby Keenan (Cleveland Heights, Oh./Benedictine) also doubled twice and had three hits each, and
Brandon Ernst (Limerick, Pa./Spring Ford) recorded the team's seventh double of the day.
Brady Gibble (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and
Wyatt Metzger (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) both homered, and Ernst went 3-for-4 with a long ball, double, three RBI's and three runs scored.
Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and
Alex Ruiz (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) had two singles to go along with one RBI and two runs scored.
On the mound,
Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) picked up his fourth win of the year after striking out six hitters in 6.1 innings. The graduate student threw six scoreless innings to start the contest and finished the game with three earned runs on eight hits.
Josh Marquard (York, Pa./Central York) closed out the game by throwing 2.2 innings in relief.
Bloomsburg got out to its first lead of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Gibble hit a two-run home run. Ernst extended the team's lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second, and then three RBI singles by Ruiz, Riley and Viggiano gave the Huskies a 6-0 lead heading into the third.
Riley had a two-run double in the third, and then the Huskies added two more in the fourth to break the game open and make a 10-0 contest. Bloomsburg's first run in the fourth came on a successful safety squeeze executed by
Jonathan LaBarbera (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), then Chasanov scored the second run of the inning on an error.
West Chester wasn't done, however, as the team nearly cut its deficit in half in the top of the seventh. Trailing 11-0 following a solo home run by Metzger in the bottom of the sixth, the Golden Rams pieced together a five-run rally on four hits and one error to make it an 11-5 game.
Bloomsburg would score five more runs across the next two innings to extend its lead, and Marquard would hold the Golden Rams scoreless as the team held on for a 16-5 win.
The two teams will match up for a pair of two more Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division games on Saturday at West Chester. The Golden Rams will host the Huskies for a doubleheader starting at 12:00 PM.
