FREDERICK, Md. - Hood College's Josh Gall (Odenton, Md. / Arundel) drove in a school record six runs as the Blazers turned away Penn St.-Abington, 23-5.
The six runs batted in give Gall 55 for the season and puts him in the top 10 in Division III. Five of his six RBIs came during an 11-run third inning.
He finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two doubles and a triple. Brooks Warrenfeltz (Middletown, Md. / Middletown) was 3-for-4 with a double, drove in three and scored three times. Cameron Esposito (Columbia, N.J. / North Warren Regional), Dylan Johnson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring), Nat Puryear (Frederick, Md. / Tuscarora), Jack Williams (Elkton, Md. / Tome School), John Cartagena (Brookfield, Conn. / Immaculate) and Justin Cosing (Reston, Va. / South Lakes) each had two hits.
Hood's 23 runs scored are a school record, as well.
Penn St.-Abington, 10-2 and in first place in the North Eastern Athletic Conference, jumped ahead 4-0 early, but the Blazers scored 11 runs in the third and eight more in the fourth to break the game open.
Gall had a three-run triple in the third to start the scoring, and scored on an RBI groundout by Chris Shriver (Frederick, Md. / Gov. Thomas Johnson). After the go-ahead run scored on an error, Cosing executed a squeeze play to knock in a run and beat the throw to first for a single, making it 6-4. Warrenfeltz had an RBI single in the inning, followed by back-to-back two-run doubles by Johnson and Gall.
In the fourth, a sacrifice fly by Esposito made it 12-4 before a two-run double from Warrenfeltz extended the lead to 10 runs. Gall doubled in a run before Shriver knocked him in for a 16-4 lead. Another error and an RBI single by Cosing made it 19-4.
Abington scored once in the top of the fifth, but the Blazers pushed three more runners home in the bottom of the inning. Paul Quattrone (Laurel, Md. / Reservoir) knocked in Michael Hernandez (Lancaster, Pa. / Hempfield), and Williams followed with an RBI single to score Nick Meyer (Knowlton, N.J. / North Warren Regional). Zach Scheuerman (Abingdon, Md. / Patterson Mill) scored on a double play ball for a 22-4 advantage.
Matt Tonkavitch (Clinton, Md. / St. Mary's Ryken) drove in a run in the eighth with a fielder's choice that scored Sean Counterman (Manchester, Md. / Manchester Valley).
Reliever Travis Schweizer (Chesapeake, Va. / Grassfield) pitched 6.2 innings of relief to pick up the win. He allowed just one unearned run on six hits and a walk, striking out four. Ryan Atkinson (Hamburg, Pa. / Hamburg) started and went 2.1 innings.
Greg Mugnier took the loss, pitching into the fourth. Christopher Bugieda tossed five innings of relief.
Mike Scaringelli was 3-for-4 for The Nittany Lions with two RBIs. Trey Guaglionona went 3-for-5. Max German stole two bases.
The win wraps up the first season in program history for the Blazers.