ALTOONA, Pa. - The Wilson College baseball team was in action today as they faced off against the Nittany Lions of Penn State Altoona. The Phoenix (13-3, 2-2 CSAC) swept the Lions (4-8) by scores of 3-1 and 10-8 in an extra-inning thriller.
Game One: Wilson knocked in a run in the top of the first inning with a homer to right field from junior
Brandon Cook (Glen Burnie, MD., Shepherd University). Junior
Dereck Ivey (Fairfield, PA., Fairfield) got the start on the mound for the Phoenix as he mowed through the bottom of the first in order. Pitching was a big factor in this game as both teams struggled to get baserunners.
Picking up in the top of the fifth, Wilson added an insurance run off a
Cook RBI single up the middle, pushing the score to 2-0. Later on, in the sixth inning, the Phoenix added their last run of the game off a freshman
Peyton Mason (Knoxville, MD, Boonsboro HS) home run to right-center field. This gave Wilson the 3-1 victory in game one.
Inside the Box Score: Wilson notched three runs off eight hits with one error while holding their opponent to just one run on five hits with one error.
Ivey earned his second victory of the season on his way to striking out eight batters in five innings.
Cook led the charge offensively hitting 3-4 with two RBIs, one run, and one home run.
Mason finished his game going 2-3 with one RBI, one run, and one homer.
Game Two: The Phoenix scored two runs in the top of the first inning in game two.
Cook notched the first run off an RBI triple to left followed by sophomore
Michael Marrale (Sykesville, MD, Old Dominion Univ.) who knocked in a run off an RBI groundout. Later on in the second, Wilson added three more runs of back-to-back home runs. The first one came from
Cook, his second home run of the day, and the second one came from
Marrale as the Phoenix jumped ahead, 5-4. After Penn State added one run in the bottom of the second, the Phoenix added another run in the top of the third off an RBI single from junior
Kevin Finn (Gaithersburg, MD., Watkins Mill), bringing the score to 6-1.
The Lions would not go away, adding three runs in the bottom half of the third inning, narrowing Wilson's lead to just two runs. Altoona would cut the deficit even more in the fifth inning, scoring another run to make the score 6-5. After
Marrale added a run in the top of the sixth, Penn State was able to even the game up at seven apiece in the bottom half of the inning. Senior
James Husar (Oxford, CT., CCBC Essex (Md.)) slapped in a run in the seventh inning, but Altoona responded right back by adding a run with two outs left in the seven. Setting us up for extra innings.
In the eighth, with their back against the walls, the Phoenix knew they had to get something going. That's when
Cook belted out a two-run homer, his second of the game and third home run for the day, putting Wilson in front and giving them the 10-8 victory in extra innings.
Inside the Box Score: The Phoenix scored 10 runs on 13 hits with six errors while their opponents finished with eight runs on 11 hits with one error.
Marrale finished going 1-4 with three RBIs and one home run,
Husar went 2-3 with one run, one RBI, and a stolen base, and senior
KJ Curry (Bowie, MD., Coker University) went 3-5 with four runs and a stolen base.
Cook had himself a day, finishing game two going 3-5 with five RBIs, three runs, two homers, and a triple. All together
Cook finished the series hitting 6-9 with seven RBIs, four runs, three home runs, and one sacrifice fly.
Up Next: The Blue and White's next scheduled game is set for Saturday, April 17, where they will host the Eagles of Saint Elizabeth University in a CSAC doubleheader starting at noon.
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