Women’s bowling team caps banner year; Baseball falls in PSAC debut
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. – The 21st-ranked Kutztown University women’s bowling team was eliminated from the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championships on Saturday afternoon, going 1-2 in today’s double elimination bracketstyle rounds, defeating LIU Post and falling to No. 23 Lincoln Memorial University and Molloy University.
The Golden Bears exit from the conference tournament means the conclusion of an outstanding 201718 campaign in which they finished with a 72-45 overall record. The .615 winning percentage is the best for the program since 2013. Kutztown also had two allconference performers recognized this past week in Angela Kozma (Beachwood, N.J./Toms River South) and Jenn Fitts (Birdsboro, Pa./ Twin Valley), whom were both selected to the ECC’s All-Conference Second Team.
Baseball
The Kutztown University baseball team was dropped in two-game series at Bloomsburg University on Sunday afternoon, 6-1 and 9-1, respectively, to begin its schedule in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play
Coming into this weekend scoring an average of 9.3 runs per game, the KU offense struggled to find its spark, only mustering up two combined runs in two seven-inning games. BU pitching was a major factor in this, holding the Golden Bears to nine hits and registering 20 strikeouts. Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) and Mitch Pinder (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown Area) each tallied one RBI in games one and two, respectively. Cox extends his on-base streak to 12 straight games with two hits in game one and a walk in game two.
The offense looked its usual self in the early goings of game one after both starters worked a scoreless first inning. Dariel Richardson (Reading, Pa./Reading) hit a double to center with one out in the top of the second and then advanced to third on a Ryan Weller (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown Area) single. However, Husky pitcher Ashton Raines showed the first signs of his stellar outing, striking out the final two Golden Bears to escape a bases-loaded jam.
Bloomsburg plated two in the bottom of the second after the squandered Kutztown opportunity, but the Maroon and Gold would answer. Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua) led off with a double in the top of the third to put a KU runner in scoring position for the second consecutive inning and, this time, Cox made sure his team would convert, driving in Rottet on an RBI single to left center.
Raines put it in cruise control at this point, striking out two in the third and two in the fourth to keep the Golden Bears off the scoreboard. Raines would get some insurance in the bottom of the third with the Huskies scoring two runs off KU starter Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) and one off of reliever Anthony DeVito (Philadelphia, Pa./Central (Mercer County C.C.)) to make the score 5-1. Bloomsburg added one more run to finalize the 6-1 win.
DeVito threw 2.2 innings for Kutztown, surrendering one earned run and two hits, striking out two. Jeff Charles (Whitehall, Pa./ Whitehall (Lehigh Carbon C.C.)) pitched the sixth, scattering two hits and giving up one earned run and one walk. Kammerer takes the loss, dropping his record to 1-2.
KU couldn’t solve the combination of Raines and Husky reliever Mike Warren, who pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out two without surrendering a run. Raines moved to 4-0 getting the victory.
Kutztown pushed the first run across in game two off of BU starter Nick Stoner as Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood) singled down the left field line to get aboard in the top of the second. The KU catcher then made his way to third a short time later via two Bloomsburg miscues with Pinder at the plate. With Lafferty 90 feet from home, Pinder laced a 2-0 pitch to right and Lafferty came in to score, putting Kutztown up 1-0.
Bloomsburg roared back with a run in the second and five in the bottom of the third to take control of the game, ahead 6-1 after three innings. BU scored three more to provide insurance as the game progressed and a frustrated Golden Bear offense couldn’t get anything going.
Oddly, KU’s run in the second seemed to settle down Stoner as he worked his way out of the inning and then struck out the side in the third. The Husky pitcher then faced the minimum three batters in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, giving way to JJ Spehrley in the seventh. Spehrley worked a scoreless inning to complete an excellent day for the Bloomsburg pitching staff.
Gavilan Fogarty-Harnish (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) got the starting nod from manager Chris Blum and gave up four earned runs and five hits in 2.0 innings, striking out and walking two. Michael Hunter (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights (Marist)) pitched 2.0 innings in relief, surrendering three runs, two earned and walking two while striking out three.