Lions drop season opener doubleheader to hornets

By Bert DeSalvo, staff writer

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Lynchburg, VA – The Penn State Beaver Nittany Lions dropped the first two games of the 2011 baseball season to the Lynchburg College Hornets (Lynchburg, VA) with scores of 10-4 and 8-4 respectively.

In the first game, Beaver found themselves down 1-0 after the first inning. However, in the third inning, the Beaver offense came to life. Freshman Garret Covalt (Hopewell High School/Aliquippa, PA) led the inning off with a walk, and Alex Filippi (Center High School/Monaca, PA) reached on an error. Later, Covalt scored on a Zack DelTurko (Monaca High School/Monaca, PA) RBI single. Filippi scored along with DelTurko to give Beaver a 3-1 advantage.

Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as the Hornets exploded for 9 runs (7 earned) in the bottom half of the third inning. 

Beaver mustered just one more run in the seventh when Covalt scored on another Lynchburg error, making the final score 10-4.

In the loss, Filippi, DelTurko, and Cory Wagner (Center High School/Monaca, PA) each had a hit for Beaver. Starting pitcher, Ron Wilkins (South Side Beaver High School/Hookstown) went 2 1/3 innings allowing 4 hits, 8 runs (seven earned) and 4 walks.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Beaver found itself down 5-0 after the fourth inning. However, Beaver chipped away in the fifth as Filippi doubled down the left field line scoring Billy Stoughton (Slippery Rock High School/Slippery Rock, PA) and Zeke Nowakowski (Central Valley High School/Monaca, PA) to cut the lead to 5-2. 

Lynchburg added a run in their half of the fifth inning, but Beaver continued to get their bats going in the sixth as Covalt had an RBI single and Fillipi earned an RBI bases-loaded walk to cut the Hornets lead to 6-4.

However, Beaver couldn't keep the Lynchburg bats from responding as they scored two runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning for a final score of 8-4.

In the loss, Beaver (0-2 overall, 0-0 PSUAC) freshman Tyler Schuster (Beaver Falls High School/Beaver Falls, PA) went 4 innings, surrendering 7 hits, walking 4 batters, and allowing 4 earned runs. 

The Lions will play a doubleheader at The Apprentice School (Newport News, VA) at 1 p.m., Friday, March 11.