Baseball falls in 10 innings
The Penn State Fayette baseball team dropped a 7-6 10-inning decision to Bethany Tuesday evening, and despite the loss, first-year head coach said the effort was there.
"We played well tonight against a solid and well-coached Bethany team," he said. "Our hitters had some great at-bats early and our pitchers kept us in the game and got a lot of fly balls."
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the third, the Nittany Lions (3-8) scored three times in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Nate Zimcosky (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) and Andrew Despot (Moon, PA/Moon Area HS) singled. Cade Warrick (Mill Run, PA/Connellsville HS) doubled in Zimcosky and Despot scored on a groundout by Kade Musgrove (Dunbar, PA/Connellsville HS). Kaleb Scott (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) closed the scoring in the inning when he singled in Warrick to give the Nittany Lions a 3-1 lead.
The Nittany Lions had a chance to extend the lead in the fourth as they loaded the bases with no outs, but they were not able to score and Encapera said the missed opportunity was a key in the game.
"Not scoring in the fourth after loading the bases with nobody out was huge," he said. "It let (Bethany) off the hook and gave them momentum to come back in the game."
Bethany scored a run in the top of the fifth to tie the contest, but Fayette got the run right back when Warrick drilled a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Bethany scored three runs to take a 5-4 lead, but Zimcosky hit a one-out home run to tie the game in the bottom of the inning.
Neither team scored again through the ninth inning, so the game went into extra innings. Bethany scored two runs in the top of the tenth inning to set the stage for the Nittany Lions to try and win the game. Josh Burns (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands HS) walked to lead off the inning and Matt Morgan (Eighty-Four, PA/Ringgold HS) followed with a single. They were sacrificed to second and third, respectively, by Kyle Ridley (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS). Dylan Bohna (Uniontown, PA/Laurel Highlands, PA) popped out for the second out, but Burns was able to score to trim Bethany's lead to 7-6. With Morgan on third, Zimcosky was intentionally walked. However, the comeback fell short when Despot flew out.
Burns (double and two singles) and Morgan (three singles) each finished with three hits while Zimcosky (home run and single), Warrick (home run and double) and Ridley (single and double) each had two apiece.
The Nittany Lions return to the field this weekend as they open Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) play. On Friday, they host Penn State Mont Alto before heading to Mont Alto for two games Saturday. Friday's contest begins at 3 p.m. and first pitch Saturday is set for 2 p.m.
"I am proud of how we played, and moving on to conference play, we have to use our experience to help us win games like this," Encapera closed with.
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.