READING, Pa. – A late run for Kutztown allowed the Golden Bears to defeat the Albright baseball team, 6-5, on Monday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Jimmie Gentry went 2-for-4 with a walk to lead the Albright offense.
Albright took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
Tanner Brescancine and
Noah Beebe each walked to start the inning. After moving up on a groundout, Brescancine scored on a passed ball to make it 1-0.
Will Tokarski followed with a walk, and his free pass concluded with a wild pitch. That allowed Beebe to score to make it 2-0. Tokarski rounded first and headed for second, but he was tossed out on the play.
Kutztown scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead in half, but Albright broke out with three in the top of the fifth. Gentry and
Micah Storms each singled after one out, and
Jeff Yordy was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Beebe ripped a double down the right field line to clear the bases. Albright led, 5-1.
Kutztown responded with two runs in the bottom half of that inning, and it tied the score with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. The score stayed there until the bottom of the eighth.
In the top half of the eighth, Albright put two men on after two outs with a single by Gentry and a walk to Suppa. The Lions, however, were held scoreless on their chance. In the bottom half, Kutztown made good on its chance. A walk and a base hit put two men on for the Golden Bears. A grounder to short ended with an errant toss to try to cut off the runner at second, and that allowed the go-ahead run to score to give Kutztown a 6-5 lead.
Albright threatened to tie it in the top of the ninth.
Logan Adams ripped a ball to short that took a tough hop for an infield single. After he moved to second on a wild pitch, the next two hitters struck out.
Nathan Fretz tried to reach on a bunt down the third base line, but he was thrown out by a step to end the game.
Trevor Mastria started for the Lions, pitching four innings while allowing just one run on three hits. He struck out four batters.
Albright returns home to face Susquehanna on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
