Baseball Gets Two Wins at Mount Aloysius

CRESSON, Pa.- The Juniata baseball team picked up two wins on a wet and rainy afternoon at Mount Aloysius as they won 10-8 and 9-2 (eight innings) Saturday afternoon at Calandra-Smith Field. 

The Eagles got great production from the 2-6 spots in their lineup in game one, as Dakotah Snyder (Lewisburg, Pa. / Lewisburg), Isaac Maclay (Belleville, Pa. / Mifflin County), Jake Swank (Portage, Pa. / Portage), Evan Mock (McVeytown, Pa. / Mifflin County), and Corey Daniels (Vandling, Pa. / Forest City Regional) notched two hits apiece (four extra-base hits) and combined for nine RBI. 

A Maclay two-run blast and a Daniel's RBI-single to right had JC up 3-0 in the top half of the first, but the Mounties answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. 

Mock smashed a solo homer, but the hosts responded with an RBI single to right and then drove in another run to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. 

The Eagles got down to business in the sixth, pushing five runs across to give themselves a 10-5 edge after Maclay's RBI single to right plated Aaron Bollinger (Millerstown, Pa. / Greenwood).

Mount Aloysius made it interesting, scoring once in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but Dominic Hoyle (Woodbridge, Va. / Garfield) eventually slammed the door closed to get his fourth save of the season. Jack Dovidio (Glenmore, Pa. / Downingtown West) got the win in relief, tossing 3.2 innings of four-hit ball while allowing two runs and striking out two. 

Game two was a much cagier affair, with the Eagles scoring when Mock got from third home while Maclay was caught in a rundown. The Mounties scored in the bottom half of the inning on a wild pitch to even the score.

The teams traded zeros until the top of the fifth when Michael Warren (New Berlin, Pa. / Mifflinburg Area) led off with a home run to leftfield. The Mounties again had an answer in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on an RBI single to right to leave things even at two. 

Juniata scored seven runs on three hits as they took complete control of the game. They scored three runs on bases-loaded walks and scored another on a wild pitch, with one more coming on a fielder's choice. Maclay and Swank each had an RBI single in the onslaught. The game would eventually go into extra innings, and the Eagles only needed one extra inning to find some offense.  

Jack Johnson (Alexandria, Pa. / Juniata Valley) started on the mound for JC; he went five innings and allowed five hits and two runs while striking out three. Luke Pastor (Camp Hill, Pa. / Trinity) got the win for the Eagles, and while the final inning saw the home team load the bases, he induced a pop out to second to the end the game. 

Juniata will return to the comfortable confines of Langdon-Goodale, where they will take on Penn St. Mont Alto Tuesday at 4:00.