MEADVILLE, Pa. – The long awaited home opener for the Allegheny baseball team finally was able to be played on Thursday afternoon after a couple weeks of lingering inclement weather resulted in several postponements and cancelations, but the first home game did not yield the result the Gators (8-10, 1-3 NCAC) were looking for as the visiting Thiel College Tomcats (11-8) used two big innings en route to a 9-3 win.
The big innings for the Tomcats came in the top half of the second and seventh innings where they plated four and three runs respectively in those innings.
In preparation for this upcoming conference weekend, senior David Strawser got the start on the mound. In his one inning of work, Strawser gave up a pair of hits, one of which being a RBI double off the bat of Tomcats' third baseman Bobby Hillier. Gator freshman southpaw Garrett Morosky started the second inning on the mound, but retired only one batter in the inning. Sophomore Frank Brank came on in relief of Morosky and worked out of the inning, but not before Thiel touched him up with a couple of 2-run doubles to take a 5-0 lead.
Brank would settle in after getting out of the second inning, and would work four more complete innings. In his last three innings, Brank would throw up zeros in the run column, and kept the game within reach as the Gators scratched across their first run of the afternoon on a RBI single by Jeff Dassner that scored Mike Pereslucha from second base.
A three-run homerun to left field in the top of the seventh inning off of Samuel Hyun proved to be the final blow for Thiel, giving them an eight-run cushion at the time. The Gators, however, would rally in their final at-bat. Dassner led the inning off with a walk. With one out, Mike Pezzone singled to his opposite field through the right side of the infield. Aaron Lynch would follow with an infield hit to second base, loading the bases for Eric Hansen and the top of the lineup. Hansen would single sharply up the middle, scoring Dassner from third and Pezzone from second. Moving from third base to the mound for the Tomcats, Hilliard clamped down and retired the next two Gators to end the game.
Hansen and Pezzone each went 2-for-4 in the game, and Lynch returned to the lineup with a 3-for-4 effort. Dassner also returned to the lineup against Thiel and went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.
With a slate of four key conference games at home this weekend, the Gators will look to return to their early season form and snap out of their current skid. The first chance the Gators will get this weekend to right the ship will be on Saturday, April 9th in a doubleheader against Wabash starting at 1:00 p.m. After the Wabash double-dip, the Gators welcome in Ohio Wesleyan on Sunday, April 10th for two games starting at 12:00 p.m.