PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. - No. 20/20 Penn State Harrisburg wrapped up conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Valley Forge on Sunday afternoon, April 27. Penn State Harrisburg pitchers combined to no-hit the Patriots in seven innings a 14-0 game one win before the Lions closed out the weekend with a 15-4 victory in eight innings in the nightcap.
Bradyn Eckert, Benjamin Ross and Cole Lambert allowed just two baserunners with no hits surrendered in the opener, with Demetre Koutras III and Alexander Ruiz each having three-hit games. Lucas Floyd homered, while Blaine Waltimyer tripled, doubled and scored three runs.
Carlos Irizarry drove in the first run with an RBI single in the top of the first before Waltimyer doubled the advantage with an RBI triple in the second frame. Henn added a sacrifice fly to tack on another and the Lions (28-9-1, 11-4 United East) added three more in the third.
RBI singles from Koutras, Ruiz and Moises Gonzalez led to four more runs in the fourth and Lucas Floyd hit a solo home run to make it 11-0 in the fifth. Koutras drove in Waltimyer with another RBI base knock to push the lead to a dozen and Adam Bova scored Braeden Piotrowski with an RBI groundout two innings later before plating himself to cap the game's scoring in the top of the seventh.
Eckert allowed just one walk in the bottom of the second but retired the other 15 batters he faced. Ross hit one batter but did not allow a hit in the sixth and Lambert retired Valley Forge (11-26, 3-12 United East) in order in the bottom of the seventh to seal the no-no.
The second game saw Penn State Harrisburg (29-9-1, 12-4 United East) rack up 21 hits and score in every inning but one. Matthew Johansen had four hits, while Waltimyer, Brendan Henn and Tim Haftl each had three-hit games. Relievers Dylan Sattazahn and Caiden Ertter combined to strike out five batters in three innings of work.
Henn scored the game's first run in the opening stanza and Haftl drove in another in the second before Johansen and Irizarry plated one run apiece in the third to make it 4-0 through two and half.
The Patriots (11-27, 3-13 United East) battled back in the bottom of the third and scored four runs to pull even but the visitors responded with the go-ahead run in the top of the fourth when Koutras singled home Waltimyer. The Lions created separation with a three-run fifth and added five in the seventh. Sam Merchant and Sam DelCollo each had RBIs in the eighth to put things out of reach for good.
NOTABLES
- Eckert earned the win and combined with Ross and Lambert to throw a no-hitter in the first outing. It is just the third no-hitter in the program's NCAA era.
- Koutras was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored in game one.
- Ruiz had three hits with a double, two runs and two RBIs in the opener.
- Waltimyer was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double to go along with three runs in the first contest. He added three more hits, two runs and two RBIs in game two.
- Gonzalez had two hits including a double and drove in two runs in game one.
- Henn was 3-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs in the second contest.
- Johansen finished 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs in the nightcap.
- Haftl went 3-for-5, drove in a run and scored two two more in the final game.
- Sattazahn struck out three without allowing a hit in two innings of relief in game two.
- Ertter had a 1-2-3 inning of relief with two strikeouts in the last outing.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming United East Tournament and will host a best-of-three second round series against the winner of Tuesday's Lancaster Bible vs. Penn State Berks play-in game beginning on Friday afternoon, May 2.