Penn State Scranton Baseball’s Thrilling Comeback Falls Just Short to Brandywine

By Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a chilly, Easter Saturday on the turf field at Schautz Stadium in Dunmore, PA, Penn State Scranton baseball's valiant comeback bid came up just short, as they fell to visiting conference foe Brandywine 11-10 in a high scoring affair. With the loss, head coach Vito Ruggiero's gritty squad dropped their second straight nail biting one run decision, after their tough 8-7 road defeat earlier in the week at Penn State York, as their record now stands at 1-3 overall.

Scranton's sophomore hurler Mark Longo was cruising through his first four innings on the mound with a 1-0 lead, before Brandywine caught fire and put up a powerful nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to break the game wide open with a 9-1 advantage. The standout performer for Brandywine's huge inning was center fielder Cam Baughman, as he crushed a two run home run over the towering right field fence to give his ball club their first lead of the game at 2-1, and then later in the fifth frame he would bat again and hammered a two run single into center. In total, Baughman led his team's offensive attack by going 4-6 at the plate, scoring two runs, and knocking in four runs in the contest.

However, the hometown Lions would once again show no quit, as they would fight their way back into this ball game by scoring multiple runs in four of the final five innings. The Lions scored two in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 9-3, two more runs in the seventh frame to cut the lead to 10-5, two more in the eighth to get within four runs at 11-7, and finally a furious rally in their last at bats in the bottom of the ninth inning, plating three runs, before their scoring threat came to a halt a mere run away from tying the game up, in their 11-10 heartbreaking defeat.

Along with scoring double digit runs on the day, Scranton's lethal offense cranked 15 hits and walked eight times. The Lions had stalwart, multi-hit games from freshman catcher Cole Bannan, pitcher/outfielder Longo, junior shortstop Rob McAndrew, fellow junior captain, outfielder/pitcher Joe Talutto, and sophomore right fielder/pitcher Domenick Giacobbe. Bannan continued his stellar freshman campaign going 3-5 at the plate, stroking three singles, and scoring a team-high three runs. Longo, who started the game on the mound and threw four innings, had a banner day offensively, as he matched Bannan with a team high three hits, having a perfect day at the plate, going 3-3, with two walks, two RBI, two singles, a double, and one run scored. McAndrew went 2-6 at the plate, with two sharply hit singles, scoring a run, and knocking in a run in the contest. Talutto, who also finished up the game throwing a scoreless inning in relief in the ninth, went 2-5 at the plate, with one walk, one run scored, a stolen base, a hard hit single to right field, and his crucial two RBI triple to center in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 11-7, helped keep the comeback attempt on track. Last but certainly not least, Giacobbe, who also fanned five batters in his four innings of relief pitching, went 2-5 at the plate, with two singles, and a run scored.

Meanwhile, Penn State Brandywine matched Scranton with 15 hits on the day, as they also had five players with multi-hit games. To go along with Baughman's stellar performance at the plate, shortstop Toby Skeans went 2-6 with two RBI and a run scored, third baseman Anthony Georgette went 2-5 with two runs scored, first baseman Kyle Oechsle was 3-6, scoring a run, to go along with his two RBI, and second baseman Ben Norris was a perfect 2-2, with two runs scored, and three walks.

Brandywine's winning pitcher in the contest was right handed hurler Matt Brucato, who threw a solid five innings, allowing three earned runs, walking four batters, giving up nine hits, and striking out five on the day. Brucato was backed up on the mound by the efforts of relief pitchers Nick Razzano, Conor Thompson, Evan Abegg, and Ben Mutz who finished up the ball game.

Penn State Scranton's coach Ruggiero was proud of how hard his team fought today in their thrilling comeback rally, a hallmark of his under manned 11 player squad this entire 2021 baseball season. "We can't give away outs, and once you give away outs, it starts compounding and working against you 95 percent of the time. We worked our way back, I'm proud of the guys, we fought and never gave up, but we have to cut down on those mistakes. Once we cut down on those mistakes, which we are going to, we are going to win a lot of baseball games. We are competing and not giving up. We could roll over and suck our thumbs and call it a day but we are not doing that. I knew this team would compete, which we are, and we have proved to ourselves. It might not always be on the W (winning) side, but I'm very happy and proud of them, and the W's will come. These guys care about this team, they care about this program, and their giving 110 percent," said coach Ruggiero.