By Benton Heck, Sports Information Student Assistant

FERRUM, Virginia – Ferrum College split a non-conference baseball doubleheader with Penn State-Harrisburg this afternoon at home, taking the opener 12-7 and falling 12-6 in the nightcap at Panther Field.

RECORDS
Ferrum (5-3)
PSU-Harrisburg (2-2)

THE BASICS
In the opener, Ryan McSorely hit a three-run homer to left-center field to give PSU-Harrisburg a 3-0 lead. The Panthers would score in the bottom of the first after Ozzie Torres singled to center and scored on a Nick Funk double to left field. In the third inning, Torres drove in Davis Yeaman on an RBI single and Funck then homered to left-center field to put Ferrum ahead 4-3. In the fourth inning Matt Parks crushed a three-run homer to right field giving the Nittany Lions a 6-4 lead. Torres again would drive in Yeaman on an RBI triple to center field. Torres scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6-6. Clayton Michael walked to drive in another run and Jacob Gladstone scored on an error, to lead 9-6 and never lost the lead for the rest of the game.

Grayson Chittwood tripled to lead off the seventh and scored on a RBI groundout from Torres. Jaden Johnson, Yeaman, and Torres all collected RBIs in the seventh to lead 12-6. Chase Smith scored on a wild pitch after a lead-off double to start the ninth. Starter Sal Lettieri (W, 1-0) pitched 5.0 innings to get the win. He allowed six hits and six runs with four walks and three strikeouts. Reliever Dallas Gilbert (L, 0-1) was charged with the loss for PSU-Harrisburg after pitching 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts. 

In the nightcap, McSorely got things started again early with a RBI double to drive in the games first run. Dallas Hite hit an RBI double to left field to push the score to 2-1. Dylan Sereno drove in Michael to cut the lead to 2-1 after the second inning. PSU-Harrisburg would score one run in the third and three in the fifth to push the lead to 7-1. Ferrum answered in the bottom half the fifth driving in three runs and added one more in the seventh, trailing 7-5. PSU-Harrisburg grabbed three runs in the eighth after a HBP and a 2-run single by Hite. Jacob Gladstone scored on error to record Ferrum's final run of the game. The Nittany Lions added two more runs in the ninth, to win 12-6.

Nittany Lion starter Nick Fitzgerald (W, 1-0) earned the win, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing one hit, three runs, and three walks with six strikeouts. Starter Devon Boothe (L, 0-1) took the loss for Ferrum after pitching 4.1 innings, giving up eight hits, seven runs and four walks, with two strikeouts.

NEXT UP
Coach Ryan Brittle's team will travel to Kodak, Tennessee next weekend to play Covenant College at Smokies Stadium. Games are set for Friday at 6:00 pm and a doubleheader Saturday at one.