BUENA VISTA, Va. – In the first home games of the 2023 season, the Southern Virginia University Baseball team (2-3) was taken down by Penn State—Mont Alto (3-3) in back-to-back contests Saturday afternoon.
In the first game, the Knights got off to a hot start offensively, with lead-off hitter,
Seth Lloyd, opening up with a double. However, back-to-back fly-outs would bring
Mitch Smith to the plate with two outs. Then, Smith struck out swinging, leaving Lloyd on second.
Penn State got on the board in the next inning when Matthew Boyer's single brought in Gavin Kissel from second base. Southern Virginia got out of a jam, with Jared Pine grounding out with runners on second and third.
In their portion of the fourth inning, the Nittany Lions increased their lead to two after a huge hit by Brady Bigler saw him reach third and send Gavin Kissel home.
The Knights would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth after a
David Hunley single helped
Luke Roberts score to cut the deficit to one.
The Nittany Lions, however, would restore their two-run lead in the next inning. Kyle McKeon was walked by
Ryan Farris and advanced to third on consecutive passed balls. Connor Orner's single scored McKeon.
The visiting team would add to their lead in the following inning. After two outs in the first two at-bats, Brady Bigler had a crucial double and would advance to third following an error. The next hitter, Jared Pine, brought Bigler home with a single, making the score 4-1 in the penultimate inning.
Back-to-back three-up, three-down innings for the Knights closed out game one.
The top of the second of game two saw the Nittany Lions score six runs. The scoring began after an error saw Brady Bigler get to second on his at-bat, seeing three runners reach home plate. A Caiden Smith single scored Bigler on the next at-bat. Then, Jared Pine tallied the first home run of the afternoon to score two more runs, closing out the six-run inning.
In their portion of the second inning, the Knights got on the board.
Benjamin Horsley led off with a double and would advance to third after
Robert Stempin singled.
Stockton Hall would bring Horsley home with a single.
Penn State continued its excellent offense in the following inning, increasing the lead to eight following another multiple-run inning. A few innings later, in the top of the fifth, the advantage grew to nine, with Zane Mack scoring on a Tyler Koser single.
Horsley would score his second run of the afternoon on a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. In the final inning, the Knights would add one more run, scored by
Dylan Boyce, but the Nittany Lions would add three in their portion of the seventh to make the final score 13-3.
Southern Virginia goes back on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 28, when they take on the Newport News Apprentice School, with the first of two games beginning at 1:00 p.m.
For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University baseball, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_bsb on Instagram.
