Sunday, March 29
Lewisburg, Pa.
12 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-15, 0
5
vs
2
Army
12-10, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Army
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
4
2
Lehigh
1
0
0
0
1
3
X
5
7
1
Lehigh splits Sunday doubleheader with Army
3/29/2015 6:02:00 PM | Baseball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Lehigh baseball team came from behind to earn a 5-2 win in the opening game of a Sunday doubleheader against Army at Bucknell's Depew Field before the Mountain Hawks' ninth-inning rally fell short in a 9-7 loss in the nightcap. Senior John Elson went 6-for-8 with five RBI and four extra-base hits to lead the way for Lehigh, while senior Justin Pacchioli followed with a 5-for-8 showing at the plate.
Pacchioli led off the day's first game, a seven-inning contest, with a walk before moving to third following an Army throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Sophomore Jacen Nalesnik followed with an RBI groundout to plate Pacchioli and give the Mountain Hawks the first run of the day.
The Black Knights got a pair of runs on the board in the third inning when Ben Smith roped a two-run double to left to give Army a 2-1 advantage, but freshman starter Peter Moore kept the Black Knights off the board the rest of the way.
Elson smoked a leadoff double to the left field fence to open the bottom of the fifth frame before Pacchioli sent a base hit to left center to plate Elson and tie the game at two.
Sophomore David Young led off the sixth frame by taking second thanks to an Army error. Sophomore John Scarr followed with a single to right field before junior Anthony Rinaldi was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Senior Connor Faust drew an RBI walk to score the go-ahead run before a two-run single from Elson added two insurance runs and the Mountain Hawks took a 5-2 lead through six.
Young, who took the mound midway through the sixth in relief of Moore, struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh and then followed a walk with a groundout to secure the victory and earn his second win of the season.
Moore finished with a line of two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 5.1 strong innings, while Young kept Army hitless for the final 1.2 frames with two strikeouts. Army starter Julian Larimer suffered the loss.
Lehigh scored the first two runs of the day's second game, a nine-inning contest, in the first inning as Pacchioli roped a leadoff triple and was then brought home by a Nalesnik RBI groundout. Donnelly followed with a triple of his own before Elson sent a double to left center and Lehigh took a 2-0 lead at the end of one.
Army answered with three runs in the following frame to take a 3-2 lead. The Black Knights added another in the fourth on an RBI from Brandon Lee to move their advantage to 4-2. The Mountain Hawks responded in the bottom of the fourth when Faust ripped a leadoff double and later scored on a single to center off the bat of Pacchioli to pull Lehigh within 4-3 through four.
Senior starter Nick Stephens limited Army to just two hits through his final 2.1 innings until junior Kevin Boswick took over with one out in the seventh and retired the next two batters. The Black Knights added a run in the top half of the eighth, but Lehigh got it right back in the bottom half of the frame when Elson led off with a double before Faust walked and freshman James Bleming moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. An RBI groundout from sophomore John Scarr scored Elson and a line drive from Rinaldi nearly scored the game-tying run, but Army's shortstop Alex Jensen made a diving snag to preserve Army's 5-4 lead. The Black Knights then tallied four runs in the top of the ninth to grab a 9-4 lead.
Lehigh put together a ninth-inning rally as back-to-back singles from Pacchioli and Nalesnik began the frame before both advanced a base on a balk. Garzillo followed with an RBI groundout before Elson smacked a two-run homer over the left field fence to pull Lehigh within 9-7. Johnny Griffith came in for the last out and got a groundout to secure the victory for the Black Knights.
Army reliever Matt Ball earned the win after throwing 3.2 one-run innings. Griffith picked up the save and Stephens suffered the loss.
Lehigh returns to action Tuesday at Delaware before hosting Bucknell in a four-game Patriot League series next weekend.
Like Lehigh baseball on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Young, David (2-1)
L: Larimer, J (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Smith, B 1
RBI: Smith, B 2
SH: McCants, M 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Earls, H 1 ; Lee, B 1
SB: Earls, H 1 ; Page, J 1 ; Jensen, A 1 ; Lee, B 1
HBP: Page, J 1 ; Lee, B 1
Batting:
2B: Elson, John 1
RBI: Pacchioli, Justin 1 ; Nalesnik, Jacen 1 ; Faust, Connor 1 ; Elson, John 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Pacchioli, Justin 1 ; Kersey, Chris 1 ; Bleming, James 1 ; Rinaldi, Anthony 1 ; Elson, John 1
HBP: Garzillo, Mike 1 ; Rinaldi, Anthony 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
SS
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball1B
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
P/IF
/ BaseballBaseball vs. Coppin State
Tuesday, April 29
Baseball vs. Penn
Wednesday, March 19
Baseball vs. UAlbany
Sunday, March 16
Season Preview Baseball
Thursday, February 13
