Baseball upended by Merchant Marine in Landmark doubleheader

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College designated hitter Dane Ott (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) belted his first home run of the season with a two-run blast in the third inning, but it wasn't enough to hold the lead over the United States Merchant Marine Academy as the Mariners downed the Eagles, 9-7, in the first game of a Landmark Conference baseball doubleheader at Langdon-Goodale Field. 

Merchant Marine (10-7, 6-4 Landmark) completed the sweep with a 9-4 win in game two. 

In the first game, each side put up two runs in the second inning – with the Eagles' runs scored on Matt Sullivan's (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) two-out, two-run single.  John Martinez (Mount Union, Pa./Mount Union) opened the Juniata third with a single, and two batters later Ott put the Eagles in front 4-2 with his round-tripper. 

The Mariners responded with a six-run uprising in the fourth inning, keyed by Mike Bybee's three-run home run. Merchant Marine added a single run in the fifth following a bases loaded walk issued to Frank Pierson. 

Juniata (8-12, 2-6 Landmark) cut the Merchant Marine lead down to 9-7 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a pair of walks, a single, and two bases loaded hit batsmen.  The Eagles got the tying run up to the plate in the seventh, following a walk by Sullivan, but a pop-up by Adam Spadafora (Asbury, N.J./Pennington School) quashed the Juniata rally. 

Eagle starter Tyler Clifford (Homer City, Pa./Homer City) allowed nine earned runs on nine hits with five walks, and fell to 3-2 with the loss. 

In game two, Merchant Marine put four runs on the board in the first inning to take control of the game. David May slugged a two-run homer in the Mariner first inning, while Bybee added an RBI double to right field.

Juniata broke the shutout with two runs in the third on Martinez's first home run of the season, also scoring Kevin Small (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) who reached on a single through the left side. 

However the Mariners had another four-run outburst in the sixth inning, capped by David Dorfman's two-run single and a one-run base hit by Alex Wolfe. Juniata managed to score two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame, but could get no closer.

Merchant Marine starter Keith Heine allowed 10 hits and issued a pair of walks, but finished the game for the victory. Juniata starter Marty Hauck (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) allowed four hits with two walks and one strikeout in the first inning, and was lifted in favor of Matt Regan (Downingtown, Pa./Devon Prep). Regan struck out five Mariners and scattered five hits over his four-and-two-thirds innings of work.

Juniata and Merchant Marine will conclude their three-game Landmark series with a nine-inning game on Sunday starting at 12:00 p.m. 

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