ABINGTON, PA (April 18, 2011) - The Penn State Berks baseball team picked up a split with first place Penn State Abington in a North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) doubleheader on Monday afternoon. Berks won the opener 4-3 in 11 innings and fell 9-0 in the second game.
The Nittany Lions are now 13-16 overall and move to 6-4 in the conference, while Abington now sits at 16-17 overall and 10-2 in the NEAC.
Nick Vitelli got things started in the top of the 11th with a single through the left side. Pinch runner J.C. Lacroix went first to third on a single to left by Rich Schlamowitz. Michael Ference, who knocked in a run as the Lions tied the game in the sixth, plated the Lacroix with the winning run as the pitcher's throw sailed to the backstop.
Jade Hendrick forced three groundouts in the bottom of the 11th to record his first save of the season. Schlamowitz (2-0) tossed three innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts to earn the win. He has lowered his ERA to 0.93 and allowed only two hits.
Zach Guiles gave up three unearned runs over seven innings. He struck out eight batters and scattered two hits. The freshman right hander hasn't allowed an earned run over his last 14 innings and has given up just three hits in that time.
Berks took advantage of two Abington errors in the sixth inning to even the game at 3-apiece. Ference grounded out to third to score Connor Corson and Kevin Heilman reached on an error to plate the tying run.
Abington put across two runs in fourth and one more in the fifth with the help of two Berks miscues. Jeff Bell had an RBI double in the top of the third to score Heilman with the only earned run of the game.
Abington was in complete control of the second game behind the 4 for 4 effort by Dustin Kology. Kology also added a home run, scored three runs and drove in two. Abington tacked on four runs in the third, two in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
The Nittany Lions will play a non-conference home game with Alvernia tomorrow afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m.
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