Allegheny Splits with Hiram

Apr 22, 2006

Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore

HIRAM, Ohio - The Allegheny College baseball team split the first two games of their series with Hiram on Saturday afternoon, falling in the first game 4-0 before coming out with an offensive outburst in the second game, winning 14-9.

In the first game, the 4-0 loss, Hiram started the game with a solo home run, and never looked back, scoring two more times in the first inning, taking out to a 3-0 lead after one turn at bat. The hosts tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, before holding on for the four-run victory.

Dan Ayer (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) led the Gators, picking up two of the team’s five hits, while Eric Rich (McMurray/Peters Township), Dirk Bonessa (Pittsburgh/Shady Side Academy) and Matt Young (State College) each had a hit in the contest. Drew Scibetta (Glenshaw/Shaler Area) pitched the entire seven innings, allowing three earned runs and picking up the loss.

The second game was a stark difference from the first game, as the two teams combined for 23 runs over the seven innings of the contest.

The Gators reached the scoreboard for the first time in the day during the first inning of the second game, when Jimmy Fernandez (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) reached on an error by the first baseman, before Young singled him in, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. Hiram responded with a four-run bottom of the first inning, re-claiming their lead.

The Gators cut into the three-run lead, when Ayer doubled to start the inning, and was brought in when Zack Oblak (Harrison City/Penn-Trafford) singled, cutting the deficit in half at 4-2. Neither team was able to find the scoreboard in their next at-bats, before Hiram tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning, increasing their lead to four at 6-2.

An Oblak home run in the top of the fourth gave the Gators their third run, and cut the deficit to two at 6-3, before the Blue and Gold offense erupted in the top of the fifth, scoring eight runs, and pushing themselves to an 11-6 lead. Young pushed the first two runs across the plate in the inning when he hit a two-run home run, scoring himself and Bonessa, before Matt DeGiovanni (Pittsburgh/Mt. Lebanon) walked with the bases loaded, scoring Brian Schmidt (Utica/Franklin). Mark Matsko (Beaver) followed that with an RBI groundout, scoring Ayer. Rich and Bonessa hit back-to-back RBI singles, and were both from a double off the bat of Brandon Skoff (Carnegie/Chartiers Valley), giving the Gators the last of their eight runs in the game.

The Terriers fought back, and scored a pair of runs with a two-run home run, before Rich singled in Nick Napiecek (West Chester/West Chester East), taking the score to 12-8. Hiram added their final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, before the Gators tacked on a pair of insurance runs when Young scored on an error by the Terrier third baseman, and DeGiovanni grounded out, scoring Napiecek.

Oblak was 3-for-4 for the Blue and Gold, while Young and Bonessa had two hits apiece. Young drove in a team-high three, while he, Bonessa and Oblak each scored twice.

Craig Misiewicz (Bethel Park) picked up the victory, improving his record to 3-3 on the season, striking out three in seven innings of work.

The Gators and Terriers face off two more times tomorrow, starting at noon.

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