Baseball Opens the Season with Trip to Southern Virginia

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

BUENA VISTA, Va. – The Penn State Mont Alto baseball team opened the 2019 season on the road on Saturday and was upended by Southern Virginia University in both games in the head coaching debut for Shawn Kissel. The teams played in mid-30's weather as Southern Virginia claimed a 10-4 win in a nine-inning contest and PSUMA dropped a 17-3 final in five innings in the nightcap.

Southern Virginia 10, Penn State Mont Alto 4 (F)

• A second inning homerun by Ryan Morin put the Knights up 1-0 in the second inning, but Mont Alto had a response in the top of the third. Nick Jacoby (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) lined a two-out single to left centerfield that scored a pair of Nittany Lions. Jacoby scored two batters later when Hunter Martin (Hagerstown, Md. / North Hagerstown) reached on an error.
• Mont Alto added to its lead in the fifth inning when Martin homered, which put them up 4-1.
• However, in the bottom half of the stanza the Knights scored six runs on eight hits as Lowell Singer (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) was knocked out of the ball game within the inning. Singer finished facing 26 batters and was responsible for seven earned runs, while striking out eight.
• The Knights added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
• Colby Black (Shippensburg, Pa. / Big Spring) and Nick Jacoby (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) both finished with a pair of hits. Black doubled and also stole a base.

Southern Virginia 17, Penn State Mont Alto 3 (F)

• AJ Millar (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) made his collegiate debut and was chased from the game after 1.1 innings on the mound. He gave up 10 runs on seven hits.
• Southern Virginia raced out to a 12-0 lead after the first two innings. They made it 17-0 in the fourth inning, which included a grand slam off of the bat of Bridger Taylor.
• Mont Alto showed some life in the top of the fifth where they scored all three of their runs. The inning started with Matt Peck (Wayneboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) earning a walk and he scored when Joseph Wunsch (Dover, Del. / Dover Area) also earned a walk. Chance McClure (Chambersburg, Pa. / Chambersburg) had a very patient at-bat to get on and that helped bring in Chayse Fisher (Mercersburg, Pa. / James Buchanan). The final run was scored on a wild pitch when Slusser crossed the plate.

Mont Alto returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 16 in a road doubleheader against The Apprentice School. First pitch of the doubleheaders is scheduled for 1 p.m.