Scranton Lions Rally Late to Defeat Wilkes-Barre

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a Friday afternoon in the electric city, the hometown Penn State Scranton baseball squad came back late to knock off local rival Penn State Wilkes-Barre by the score of 6-5 in a thrilling seven inning affair, before game two of the doubleheader was rained out. With their second straight home victory, the red hot Lions from Scranton improved their overall record to 4-12 and their all-important conference mark sits at 0-4.

After Wilkes-Barre jumped out to an early 5-0 advantage, Scranton began their exhilarating comeback by scoring a pair in the bottom half of the third inning, one in the fifth, and a crucial trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead late, as they scored six unanswered runs to close out the contest. By holding their opponent scoreless in the seventh and final frame, Scranton captured the improbable one run, nail-biting home triumph. Overall, both squads were deadlocked in the hit department at 7-7.

Scranton was led on offense by the dynamic duo of sophomore second baseman and team captain Mike DeWolfe and freshman outfielder Ryan Vinton who each put up multi-hit performances on the day. DeWolfe led the way going 2-4 at the plate, with a game-high four RBI, and a stolen base to boot. Vinton was 2-3 at the dish and scored two runs in the matchup. The Lions other three hits came from sophomore first baseman Zach Benson and freshman catcher Guy Mushow who each hammered doubles, and senior Mark Longo chipped in with a base hit as well. Scranton's other RBI came from freshman shortstop Alex Pagotto and fellow freshman, designated hitter Alex Ferguson who each knocked in a run in the showdown.

Meanwhile, Wilkes-Barre had one lone player tally a multi-hit ball game, as freshman catcher Mark Downey went a near flawless 3-4 at the plate, smashing a pair of doubles, and scored two runs. The road warriors other hits came from sophomore third baseman Joey Polanowski who scored a run and stole a base, freshman first baseman Tyler Sewell who chipped in with an RBI and scored once, fellow freshman, right fielder Andrew Mentzer who laced a triple and knocked in a hat trick of runs, and lastly, freshman second baseman Enai Fernandez who cracked an RBI double in the third inning.

On the pitching side of things, Scranton started freshman hurler John Paffenroth on the mound and he earned the win, tossing six solid innings, surrendering five earned runs, six hits, two walks, and fanned a robust eight Wilkes-Barre batters. Longo came in to pitch the seventh and final inning and nail down the victory after his ball club took the lead late in the contest, as he picked up the save in dominant fashion striking out three hitters, allowing no earned runs, and giving up just one hit, and a walk in his appearance. For Wilkes-Barre, they had freshman right-hander Zachary Chamberlain toe the slab first and he threw five innings, giving up six earned runs, seven hits, five walks, and struck out two Scranton batters in his start. Finally, fellow freshman righty AJ Parker pitched the final frame for his squad in relief without giving up any runs, hits, or walks in his successful outing.

Now second-year head coach Collin Ferguson and his 4-12 Penn State Scranton baseball team will look to extend their two game winning streak when they face off against 0-3 Penn State Wilkes-Barre in the doubleheader rematch on the road turf field at Lake-Lehman High School this Sunday, April 2^nd, with first pitch scheduled for 12 noon.