Box Score Abington, Pa. - The SUNY Canton Kangaroos began a three-game series against Penn State Abington earlier today, and the Nittany Lions were anything but gracious hosts. The Blue and White scored at least one run in all but one inning of the game, going away with a 17-3 victory over their nonconference foes. Senior Connor MacFarlene earned the victory, going six innings giving up just four hits and one earned run while striking out four opponents.
 
Even with the lopsided final score, it was actually SUNY Canton (2-11) who got on the scoreboard first in the top of the first inning. After a single and steal of second, a groundout back to MacFarlene put a runner on third with one out. The next batter sent a sacrifice fly deep into center field, scoring the runner from third and giving the 'Roos a 1-0 lead. Abington could do nothing in their first at bats of the game, but MacFarlene came back in the top of the second and shut down the Canton offense, and from that point on it was all Abington.
 
Kyle Dougherty got things started off for the Nittany Lions (5-11, 0-0 NEAC) with an RBI infield single with two outs in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Then, the Blue and White tacked on two more runs in the third off of a Bill Parave double and a triple from Tom Ditro. Two more runs crossed home in the fourth, both off of ground outs to short from Dustin Kology and Mark McCouch.
 
With the score sitting at 5-1 and MacFarlene pitching solid through five innings, the Nittany Lions blew the doors off the game in the bottom of the fifth. Abington batted through the lineup in the inning, starting out with Dan Hill. Hill reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, and moved up to second base when Ditro singled through the left side. The pair of Nittany Lions then put on a double steal, each moving up a base for A.J. Vagliani to come up with two runners in scoring position. The junior playing DH today sent a double deep off the right center field wall, scoring both  Ditro to make the score 6-1.
 
After a popout, Dougherty was hit by a pitch and this loaded the bases for Kology. The seniot center fielder came through in a big way, sending a ball deep over the right fielder's head and just short of the wall for a bases-clearing triple. Bill Parave later singled to bring Kology in, and when the inning finally ended, the Nittany Lions held a 10-1 lead.
 
MacFarlene got the 'Roos to go three up, three down in what would be his sixth and final inning on the mound, closing out a very productive start. In the bottom of the frame, Vagliani almost hit one out again, this time plating two more runs with a triple that was almost an inside the park home run, with Vagliani just barely being thrown out at home. After Canton got a run off of reliever Robert Morak in the seventh inning, the Nittany Lions put up another big score in the bottom half of the frame. Parave, Mike Kerns, and Hill all were the authors of the scoring this time, with Kerns doing the most damage with a two RBI double to left center.
 
The two teams traded single runs in the eighth inning, with Canton's coming on an RBI groundout off reliever Nick Cancelliere. Ted Smallwood came on to close out the win for the Nittany Lions in the top of the ninth, and ended things by getting a flyout to center to earn Abington the 17-3 victory.
 
It's difficult to mention any one player in such a high-powered affair as today's game, but Kology and Parave came away with arguably the biggest statistical days. Kology went 3-for-5 with four RBIs, while Parave went a scorching 4-for-5 and added another three RBIs. MacFarlene earned his third victory of the season for the Blue and White, but once again, today's game was an all-around awesome effort by all the Abington batsmen.
 
The three-game, two-day series will continue tomorrow, when the Nittany Lions square off against the Kangaroos for games two and three in a doubleheader back at Alverthorpe Park. Game one is scheduled to begin at 12:00 pm.