Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Jenkintown, Pa. – The Penn State Abington baseball squad took on the Bloodhounds of John Jay College earlier Saturday afternoon for a non-conference doubleheader, and after a well-pitched 4-2 victory in game one, the Nittany Lions were unable to keep up offensively in a 10-6 game two loss. Junior Jeff Davis earned the victory on the hill for the Blue and White in the first contest, throwing five innings scoreless while allowing just three hits and one walk. Meanwhile, Callan Palmer and Tom Ditro led the way offensively for the Nittany Lions, with Palmer totaling four hits in six at-bats with two runs and four batted in.
 
Penn State Abington (11-16-1, 4-7 NEAC) managed to scratch across a run early in the first game thanks to solid two-out hitting from Tom Ditro and Mike Scaringelli. With the first two runners in the frame down due to groundouts, Ditro stepped to the plate and started the mini-rally with a single into center field. When Scaringelli came to the dish next, Ditro timed the pitcher's move perfectly to execute an easy steal of second base. Then, Scaringelli laced a single of his own into center, scoring Ditro and putting the Nittany Lions ahead 1-0. The Blue and White would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs and a runner on second, Palmer came to bat and rocked a double into the gap in right center field, scoring Trey Guaglionona to make it a 2-0 game. Later in the inning, Ted Smallwood rolled a single back up the middle, plating Palmer for a 3-0 lead. This was more than enough scoring in support of Davis, who was proving a tough nut to crack for the Bloodhounds (4-19, 2-3 CUNYAC). In four out of his five innings pitched, the leadoff batter managed to reach base via either an error or a hit. However, each time Davis buckled down, retiring the next three batters to get out of the potential jams unscathed.
 
The visitors were finally able to get to the Nittany Lions when the bullpen took over, however. In the sixth, John Jay got runners to first and second with nobody out. A fielder's choice put runners on the corners with an out, and then a groundout to the pitcher moved the runner from first up to second. With two baserunners now in scoring position, starting pitcher Nico Rivera came to the plate, and he socked a two-RBI single into right center, cutting the Bloodhounds deficit to just one run. However, the Nittany Lions got an insurance run back in the bottom of the sixth when Palmer drove home Guaglionona to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Then the Blue and White brought Diego Melendez in to close out the game, and the freshman sat down the first two batters he faced via strikeouts before a lineout to second ended the game and gave the Nittany Lions the two-run win. It was Davis' first victory of the season on the mound and also Melendez' first save of the year as well.
 
Game two started in a similar manner to the first, as Penn State Abington jumped out to a big lead early. With two runners on, Ditro stepped to the plate again and knocked in another run with an RBI double to left. Scaringelli followed that up with a sacrifice fly to center, and then Fran Caruso earned another RBI with a single up the middle to drive in Ditro. Coming out of the first frame, the Nittany Lions held a three-run lead, but that was quickly erased by the Bloodhounds in the second, thanks in part to a steal of home. When the Nittany Lions gunned out a John Jay runner to end the inning, the game was tied at 3-3, but that was just the beginning of the visitors' attack. The Bloodhounds scored runs in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, with the biggest damage coming in the four-run fourth. Penn State Abington tried to answer back, and did manage to get back within two when they plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks partially to an RBI triple by Callan Palmer. The John Jay offense simply couldn't be stopped though, and in the end the visitors pulled away to a 10-6 victory.
 
With the split, the Blue and White move to 11-16-1 on the season. They'll now have several days off before continuing their homestand on Wednesday with a single game against Widener. The non-conference contest is slated to start at 3:30 at Alverthorpe Park in Jenkintown.