A tale of two games; Beaver splits with PS Hazleton

Bert DeSalvo, Staff Writer
Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Penn State Beaver Baseball team split their second doubleheader in as many days against Penn State Hazleton at Beaver Field.

In the first game, freshman Tyler Schuster (Beaver Falls High School/Beaver Falls, PA) took the hill. Despite allowing a first inning run that put Hazleton up 1-0, Schuster dominated the Hazleton offense as he went five complete innings, allowing just two runs on three hits while walking just three and striking out seven Hazleton batters. 

Beaver's offense began to produce in the second inning as the first five batters reached and eventually scored in the inning. Marcus Allen (Union High School/New Castle, PA), Adam Falkowski (Blackhawk High School/Beaver Falls, PA), Garrett Covalt (Hopewell High School/Aliquippa, PA), and Cory Wagner (Center High School/Monaca, PA) each had hits in the inning as Beaver sent 10 men to the plate.

Beaver added seven more runs in the third inning, which included doubles by Jim Musgrave (Ambridge High School/Ambridge, PA) and Tom Lewis (Hopewell High School/Aliquippa, PA). Beaver added another run in the fourth inning to make the score 13-1. Although Hazleton added a lone run in the fifth inning, Beaver won with a final score of 13-2. 

In the second game, Beaver went up in 1-0 in the first inning as Alex Filippi (Center High School/Monaca, PA) led the game off with a single and stolen base and eventually scored on Covalt's sac fly to right field. As the game remained tied through the fourth inning, Hazleton plated five runs in the fifth as they drilled four hits and earned two walks to take a 5-1 lead. Although Beaver responded with two runs of their own in the fifth, Hazleton answered with two more runs in the sixth inning to make the score 7-3.  

Billy Stoughton (Slippery Rock High School/Slippery Rock, PA) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Beaver, but Beaver couldn't muster any offense in their half of the seventh and fell, 7-3. 

In the loss, Zach DelTurco (Monaca High School/Monaca, PA) pitched four innings, allowed one earned run, four hits, four base-on-balls, and struck out six Hazleton batters. 

For the day, Filippi reached base five times, going 3-5, with three runs scored, two stolen bases and a hit-by-pitch. 

Penn State Beaver (6-12, 6-2 PSUAC) will host Penn State Fayette at 2 p.m., Wednesday, April 13.