Lions can't corral Bison; drop ninth consecutive game

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
By Bert DeSalvo, Staff Writer

Monaca, PA - The Penn State Beaver baseball team lost a well-played contest to the Bethany College Bison (Bethany, WV), 7-2, to remain winless in the season.

In the first inning, Bethany mustered a few singles sandwiched around a walk, which resulted in two runs to give them a lead they never relinquished.

The Bison added solo runs in the second and fourth innings by gathering two hits in each inning to give Bethany a 4-0 advantage. 

However, the Nittany Lions closed the gap in the fifth inning as Zeke Nowakowski (Central Valley High School/Monaca, PA) hit a solo home run to get Beaver on the scoreboard. The Lions tacked on their second run of the inning as Alex Filippi (Center High School/Monaca, PA) singled, and Cory Wagner (Center High School/Monaca, PA) drove Filippi in with a two-out double to cut the Bison lead in half, 4-2.

Unfortunately, Beaver couldn't provide any more offense and allowed Bethany to add a run in each of the last three innings of play for a final score of 7-2 in nine innings. 

In the loss, there were some bright spots for the Lions. Filippi went 3-5 with a run scored, and Nowakowski gathered two hits (2-3), including a solo homer. Starting pitcher Brandon Alexander (South Side Beaver High School/Hookstown, PA) got the loss and allowed three earned runs on five hits and one walk in two innings pitched. 

Reliever Billy Stoughton (Slippery Rock High School/Slippery Rock, PA) threw five innings, allowed just two earned runs on seven hits, walked two batters, and struck out one. In addition, Beaver shored up their defense as they had just one fielding error, a problem that's plagued them early this season. 

Bethany outhit Beaver by a 17-6 margin. Bisons T.J. Zarewicz went 4-4 on the day, including a home run, three runs, and two RBIs. 

On Saturday, March 26, Beaver (0-9, 0-0 PSUAC) will travel to take on Penn State Mont Alto at 2 p.m. in their first PSUAC game of the year.