SALISBURY, Md. – The eighth-ranked Salisbury University baseball team surrendered four runs in the top of the 12th, falling to the Penn State Abington Nittany Lions, 9-5, on Tuesday afternoon at Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.

BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Sea Gulls manufactured a pair of runs to take the lead in the first inning. Kavi Caster led off with a single and promptly stole second. Stephen Rice drew a walk, and both runners executed a double steal. After Cameron Hyder walked to load the bases, Caster scored on a wild pitch and everybody else moved up a base. Ben Anderson then brought Rice home on an RBI groundout that put SU up 2-0.
• Abington got one run back in the top of the second. Josh Baar led off with a walk, then two batters later Jaden Himmelreich singled to put two men on. Baar was thrown out trying to take third on a would-be wild pitch, but Andrew Lastowka kept the inning going with a walk. Louis Rossner came up next and dumped an RBI single into center to get the Nittany Lions back within 2-1.
• Salisbury answered with two more in the home second. Jimmy Adkins singled to lead off and stole second. Luke Weddell got plunked to put two men aboard, then Caster powered a double to the left center gap to score Adkins. Weddell came home on an RBI groundout from Rice that made it 4-1.
• Ryan McCarty clubbed a solo homer in the third to cut the Nittany Lion deficit to 4-2. Then in the fourth, Chase Swain blasted a two-run shot to right to tie it at 4-4.
• Scott Cameron put the Sea Gulls back in front with one swing in the fifth, bashing a line drive solo homer to the right center power alley, his first of the season, to make it 5-4.
• In the top of the eighth, Jaden Himmelreich worked a two-out walk, then Andrew Lastrowka banged an RBI double off the wall in right, tying the game at 5-5.
• The game went into extras, and in the bottom of the 10th Dom Frigiola tripled off the wall in center to put the winning run at third with two out, but Ethan Wentzlaff lined out sharply to short to retire the side.
• The Nittany Lions threatened to go in front in the 11th, loading the bases with two out. Justin McDermott buckled down on the mound, though, striking out Himmelreich to keep the game knotted up.
• Abington finally broke through in the top of the 12th. After back-to-back walks to begin the frame, Swain cranked a fly ball that just cleared the fence in left for a three-run homer, his second of the game. McCarty followed with another blast to left, giving him his own two-homer game and the Nittany Lions a 9-5 lead they would not relinquish.

SALISBURY GAME NOTES

• Kavi Caster finished 2-for-6 with a double, run, RBI and two stolen bases to lead the Sea Gulls.
• Stephen Rice doubled, stole a base, scored a run and drove in another.
• Scott Cameron went yard for his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth.
• Justin McDermott (1-2) was tagged with the loss after giving up the first of the four Abington runs in the 12th.
• Benji Thalheimer lasted 3.2 innings in a no-decision, giving up four runs on five hits, including two long balls, with four walks and one strikeout.
• Robbie Hollenbeck worked a scoreless inning and a third after Thalheimer, while Brandon Epstein tossed a scoreless sixth.
• Jimmy Adkins worked three innings on the hill, surrendering the lead in the eighth but allowing just one run on two hits in his three frames. At the plate he went 1-for-3 with a run and a stolen base.

PSU ABINGTON GAME NOTES

• Chase Swain went 3-for-7 with two home runs and five RBIs at the top of the Nittany Lion lineup.
• Ryan McCarty finished 2-for-4 with two solo homers of his own, going back-to-back with Swain in the 12th to put Abington in the driver's seat.
• Andrew Lastowka went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, while Louis Rossner finished 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
• McCarty (1-0) moved in from short to the mound and picked up the win with five scoreless relief innings. McCarty gave up just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
• Gregg Sywulak got knocked out in the second, surrendering four runs on two hits in just an inning and a third on the hill.

UP NEXT

• The Sea Gulls will play host to Alfred State on Friday morning as part of a four-team, three-day round-robin.
• Salisbury will battle York (Pa.) on Saturday and Shenandoah on Sunday, with the three visiting teams also playing neutral games against each other during the weekend.
• SU swept a season-opening doubleheader against Alfred State on Feb. 12, winning 17-7 and 13-3.
• First pitch of Friday's game will be 11 a.m. with coverage on the Sea Gull Sports Network (SGSN) beginning at 10:45 a.m.

Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 186 conference championships and 41 Academic All-Americans.

To learn more about the tradition of excellence with Sea Gull Athletics, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.