Penn State Scranton Baseball Highly Competitive in Season Opening Loss to Schuylkill

By Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

On a warm, spring, picture perfect day for baseball at Matt McGloin Field, Penn State Scranton battled until the end in their 8-2 home loss to conference foe Penn State Schuylkill to kick-off the 2021 campaign. It was a momentous day on campus, as both the baseball and softball teams played in their first competitive contests in two years, as last season was canceled due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

The ball game was neck-in-neck until the top of the sixth inning, as both starting pitchers were locked in an impressive duel that saw Scranton trailing by only one run, 2-1, deep into the contest. Scranton was led on the mound by Scranton Prep product and stalwart freshman hurler, David Blake, who threw a solid five innings, only allowing two earned runs, while walking just one batter, and striking out four on the afternoon. Meanwhile, Schuylkill was led by the stellar pitching of Ryan Culbert, who threw six strong innings, only allowing one run, and fanning seven batters while getting the victory on the mound.

Unfortunately for the hometown Lions, the top of the sixth inning saw Schuylkill break the game wide open, as they plated six runs off of Scranton relief pitchers Domenick Giacobbe and Mark Longo to give the visiting squad an 8-1 advantage and made the hopes for a late game comeback quite difficult.

However, showing plenty of resiliency, Scranton showed some nice late game life, as junior relief pitcher Joe Talutto impressed on the mound throwing two scoreless innings, striking out two batters, and retiring all six hitters he faced. That solid pitching performance paved the way for a nice ninth inning rally that ensured the Lions would not go quietly on this day. In their final inning, Scranton plated a run and crushed three hits by senior Kenny Paltzer, Rob McAndrew, and Carson Cacioppo to cut the deficit to 8-2, the eventual final score of the contest. In the last at bat of the game, freshman starting catcher Cole Bannan gave the ball a ride, as his bid for a huge late game three run home run to continue the rally fell just short, as the ball was tracked down at the centerfield warning track.

Stand out performers for Scranton were junior shortstop McAndrew, fellow junior, second baseman Cacioppo, first baseman Paltzer, sophomore centerfielder Longo, and Blake. McAndrew had the Lions only multi-hit game, as he led off the game with a towering double and smacked an RBI single in the ninth inning. Cacioppo had his squad's only other extra base hit, as he went 1-4 at the plate and ripped a double down the third base line in the final inning of the contest. Paltzer scored his team's second and final run of the game, as he also went 1-4 on the day. Longo, who also pitched a solid 1 2/3 innings in relief, went 1-3 at the plate, walking once and driving in the Lions first run of the game with an RBI single to right field in the bottom of the second inning. Finally, Blake besides pitching well, was also 1-3 at the plate, picking up an opposite field single to right in the fourth inning, as well as stealing a base, and coming around to score his squad's first run of the season in the second inning after reaching base via a walk.

For Schuylkill head coach Grant Yoder, he had two other solid performers of note besides their winning pitcher Culbert, in Jake Leininger and south paw relief pitcher Dylan Stephen. Leininger hit a mammoth solo home run over the left field fence to break a 1-1 tie in the top of the third inning, as his squad never trailed and could not be caught. Meanwhile, Stephen threw three quality innings of relief, picking up the save, while only allowing one run, and striking out four batters on the day.

Overall Penn State Scranton baseball head coach Vito Ruggiero was very proud of his team's effort and fight in their season premiere. "These kids have faced adversity from the past two seasons. I was pleased that we never lost the fight. It was one bad inning that put us behind the eight ball but again we continued to fight. Overall I'm pleased the way we carried ourselves and fought to the last out. There isn't just a light at the end of our tunnel, there's a bright light at the end of our tunnel. We are close to great things," said coach Ruggiero.

Now Penn State Scranton will look to capture their first win of the young baseball season, as they will host conference foe Penn State Hazleton for a single, nine inning contest at Matt McGloin Field this Saturday afternoon at 2pm on campus.