READING, Pa. – The Albright baseball team surrendered five runs in the first two innings of its non-conference game Wednesday against Penn State Harrisburg, but the Lions fought back to make things interesting before falling, 8-4, at Kelchner Field.
Noah Beebe went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Lions.
Penn State Harrisburg scored five runs on six hits in its first two at-bats, and the score stayed that way until Albright hit in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Shaun O'Reilly came in relief in the second inning, and he allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out three in 3.2 innings of work.
O'Reilly's quality work on the hill allowed the Lions to climb back into the game with three runs in the fifth inning, and they did all their damage after two outs.
Logan Adams reached on an infield hit, and he scored on
Jeff Yordy's triple. Beebe followed with a big blast, homering to left to make it 5-3.
The teams traded runs in the seventh. Penn State Harrisburg scored an unearned run to make it 6-3 in the top half, but the Lions responded in the bottom half.
Nathan Fretz led off with a single, and he moved to second on a wild pitch. Adams reached on an infield single, and an errant throw to first allowed Fretz to score on the play to make it 6-4. Yordy walked to put two men on. After a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position and the tying run at second, though, Albright failed to cash in due to a strikeout and a groundout.
In the eighth,
Brandon Daubert and pinch hitter
Logan Pennypacker led off with walks. A sacrifice bunt again put the tying run at second with one out, but the Lions couldn't capitalize for the second straight inning.
Penn State Harrisburg added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning to make it 8-4, both of which were unearned. Albright put two runners on in its last at-bat with singles by Beebe and
Micah Storms, but a double play ended the game.
O'Reilly,
Will Tokarski and
Philip Angelastro combined to pitch 7.2 innings out of the pen for the Lions. They combined to allow three runs, all unearned, while striking out eight and walking just one. Adams had the other multi-hit game for Albright, going 2-for-4 with a walk.
Albright returns to MAC Commonwealth action with the start of a series against Hood on Friday at Kelchner Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
