St. Mary's City, MD- The Penn St. Berks Baseball team concluded the regular season by falling to St. Mary's (MD) in their final United East three-game series on Friday, Apr. 26 and Saturday, Apr. 27.
Game 1
The Lions scored first in the opening game of the series, scoring in the top of the second inning. Zach Smith jump started the offense, smacking a double down the left field line and then advancing the third base on a pass ball. Nick Bergeman then hit a hard ground ball to short, allowing Smith to score. Berks grew their lead in the top of the fourth inning. David Rudisill led off the inning by rocketing a solo home down the right field line and over the fence, making the score 2-0. St. Mary's answered back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 6-2 lead.
Berks tried to battle back scoring in the top of the seventh inning. Kolbie Reeser and Colin Templin recorded back-to-back singles to put a pair of runners on base. Rudisill single to center, driving in a run to cut the deficit down to three. The Lions made another push in the top of the eighth inning. Bergeman led off the inning, reaching base with a clever bunt. Colin Amerine was hit by a pitch and then both runners advanced into scoring position after a sacrifice bunt by Griffin Kay. Nick Hardesty hit a hard ground ball on the right side, plating a run and moving Amerine over to third. Amerine scored on a wild pitch, bringing the Lions back within one run. Berks would get a runner into scoring position in the ninth inning, but could not complete the comeback, falling 6-5.
Game 2
The Seahawks jumped out to the early in the opening game on Saturday, scoring six runs in the first three innings. Berks started their offense in the top of the fourth inning. Kay led off the inning by smacking a double down the left field line. Logan Ewert singled to left field, putting runners on the corners. Reeser lifted a sacrifice fly to left field allowing Kay to tag up and score. St. Mary's (MD) scored in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-1 lead.
The Lions would not go away, scoring in the top of the fifth inning. Smith led off the inning with a walk. After advancing to second, Amerine singled to left field to move Smith over to third. Kay then reached on a fielding error, allowing Smith to score and cut the deficit down to five. The Seahawks scored in the bottom of the sixth inning and halted any further comeback to secure the 8-2 victory.
Game 3
Berks scored first in the final game of the series, scoring in the top of the first inning. The Lions put runners on first and second for Bergeman who drove a single into left field allowing a run to score. The lead did not last long as St. Mary's (MD) scored six runs in the next three innings to take a 6-1 lead.
The Lions climbed back into the game in the top of the fourth inning. Kay started the inning by reaching on an error and eventually advancing to third on a wild pitch. Hardesty drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Jonathan Myers used a bunt single to reach base and allowed Kay to score. Later in the inning, Smith slashed a single into center field allowing two runners to come home, making the score 6-4. The Seahawks scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull away and eventually pick up a 16-4 victory.
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