Baseball gains valuable experience in Myrtle Beach

The Penn State Fayette baseball team played five games over three days at The Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, SC, and while the team went winless on the trip, the Nittany Lions picked up some valuable experience that will help them once they begin Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) play on March 25.

"We faced some extremely talented JUCO teams in Myrtle Beach," said first-year head coach Ryan Encapera.  "We were able to get the whole roster involved on the trip and were able to evaluate what we need to improve on for conference play.  I hope the adversity we faced, and the challenges presented will make us tougher and battle-tested moving forward.  While the weather and playing conditions this weekend was not ideal for a spring trip, our guys fought through it and made the best of it."

The temperatures were 50 degrees or less consistently with rain and wind most of the trip.

Thursday, Fayette lost to College of DuPage, 11-1 with Cade Warrick (Mill Run, PA/Connellsville HS) looking best for Fayette with a pair of doubles.

Friday, Fayette was swept by Mid Michigan College, 13-3 and 10-0.  In the opener, Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) led off the bottom of the first with a home run, his third of the season, with Warrick also adding a home run.  In the second game, Fayette recorded seven hits but was not able to score.  Zimcosky and Warrick led Fayette with two singles each.

Fayette committed eight errors in its 28-14 six-inning loss to Chesapeake College Saturday.  Offensively, the Nittany Lions scored in all but one inning but trailed 11-0 after the top half of the first inning.  Andrew Despot (Moon, PA/Moon Area HS) had a homer, double and single in his three at-bats while adding three RBI to lead the Nittany Lions.  Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) had a single and a double, Zimcosky had two singles, Josh Burns (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) had a pair of singles and four RBI while Dylan Bohna (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands, PA) had a single and three RBI.

In their 14-3 loss to Middlesex College later in the day, the game was tied 2-2 before Middlesex scored 11 runs in the bottom of the second.  Kade Musgrove (Dunbar, PA/Connellsville HS) led Fayette with two singles while Zimcosky had a double.

"All of our hitters swung (the bat) well, notably Nate Zimcosky, Cade Warrick, and Andrew Despot," Encapera said.  "They had some great individual games on the trip."

Zimcosky (home run, three doubles and two singles) and Warrick (home run, two doubles and three singles) both had six hits on the trip while Scott (double and four singles) and Burns (five singles) recorded five hits apiece.

The Nittany Lions are scheduled to return to the diamond Thursday when it heads to CCAC-Boyce for a tentative nine-inning game.  First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

For more information on the Penn State Fayette baseball team, go to https://www.psathletics.com/sports/bsb/index or follow the team on Instagram @fayetteathletics.