Fresh off a doubleheader sweep of Penn State Fayette on Saturday, the Golden Eagles had the tables turned on them by the Lions on Sunday at Dover City Park in a pair of high scoring affairs,16-2 and 23-20.
Even though KSU Tusc collected 10 safeties and Fayette managed just one more (11), the Lions timely hitting propelled them to a 16-2 win. They opened the game with four tallies in the first inning and plated two more in each of the second and third innings to take an early 8-1 lead.
The Eagles managed a single run in the last of the fifth inning, but the Lions pushed across two runs in the sixth and six more in the top of the final inning to nail down the victory.
Steve Michniak, Spencer Kornspan, Caleb Salgado and Scottie Sauernheimer all collected two singles for the Eagles who did not have an extra base hit in the contest.
In a football-like score in the final game of the afternoon, the Lions outscored the Golden Eagles 23-20 despite KSU Tusc pounding out 23 hits compared to PSF's total of 16. Six fielding errors did not help the Eagles even though they rallied to within a single run, 19-18, in the bottom of the fifth frame.
Caleb Campbell led the navy and gold at the plate with three hits in four plate appearances belting a solo homerun in the fourth inning. He also had two singles.
Nine KSU players had multi-hit games with Sauernheimer, Salgado, Andrew Powell and Joshua Leonard all smacking doubles. Leonard had four RBIs and scored three times, while Michniak and Sauernheimer each plated three runs.
PS Fayette jumped on the Eagles early with a nine-run output in the first inning. The Eagles responded with a single run in the bottom of the inning and five more on five hits in the second to close to within 9-6. The score was 16-12 after three frames as the Lions added seven runs in the third inning and the Eagles six as Andrew Powell doubled to score three runs and Braydon Maine singled home two more.
A three-run fourth gave the visitors a 19-12 lead, until a six-run Eagles uprising in the fifth drew them to within 19-18. Michniak and Sauernheimer each brought two runners home, the former with a single and the latter with a double.
Fayette added a pair of runs in each of the final two innings to stave off a KSU comeback while the Eagles could manage just a single tally in each frame despite having the bases loaded with one out in the home half of the sixth.
Campbell, Michniak, Sauernheimer, Salgado and Powell all had three hits in the nightcap, while Maine, Leonard, Kornspan and Kyle Shockley collected two hits each.
The loss evened the Golden Eagles record at 4-4 on the season and they will travel to Miami Hamilton for a three-game weekend series on Saturday and Sunday.
Scottie Sauernheimer fields a throw at second to stop a Fayette running trying to steal.
Caleb Campbell lets a bunted ball roll foul along the third baseline.
(Photos by Rob Brindley)