Box Score Jenkintown, Pa. – The Penn State Abington baseball squad ran out to a big lead early in Wednesday's game against conference foe Lancaster Bible College, then needed an odd final play to close out a 7-6 win. Brian Camp earned his first win of the season as the starter, while senior closer Kevin Faber took home his third save of the year. Offensively, freshman Tom Kreiling had a huge day out of the nine-hole, going two-for-three with three RBIs and one run.
 
It was Lancaster Bible (6-9, 1-3 NEAC) who took a lead out of the gates in the game. With one out, Micah McClay singled to left. Matt Taliercio stepped to the plate next, and he blasted a two-run homer down the right field line, scoring McClay and giving the Chargers a 2-0 lead early. However, Penn State Abington (7-7, 1-0 NEAC) got those runs back and more in the bottom of the second. With one down, A.J. Vagliani reached first on an error. After the next batter flew out to center, the senior left fielder stole second base, putting him in scoring position for Trey Guaglionona. He laced a single into center, bringing home Vagliani and making it a 2-1 game. Guaglionona then moved up to second on a balk, and later scored when Kreiling knocked a double just inside the left field line. Finally, Ted Smallwood singled into right, scoring Kreiling and giving the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead after two innings of play.
 
Lancaster Bible managed to tie the game back up in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Justin Taylor, but Penn State Abington came back and took the lead for good with a big bottom of the inning. Fran Caruso got things started with a one-out single, and he moved to third when Guaglionona doubled to center. Then Kreiling came up big again with yet another hit down the left field line, driving in both runs and making it a 5-3 game. Then, later in the inning, a wild throw helped bring home Ted Smallwood, and Abington came out of the inning with a 6-3 advantage. The Chargers got one back on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth, but the Nittany Lions got that run right back in the bottom of the inning on yet another two-out error by the visitors. The score remained the same all the way through to the ninth inning, when the Blue and White brought Kevin Faber in out of the bullpen to close out the game. The senior got in a spot of trouble early, allowing two baserunners on with one out. However, he was able to buckle down and get the next batter out via a strikeout, bringing up the Chargers' final chance in Kody Godsey. He hit a serious blast into the deep left center gap. Both dugouts rose to their feet to see where the ball ended up, as it had a definite chance of heading over the fence for a go-ahead home run. In fact, Lancaster Bible's runner on first saw the ball himself, and was pumping his fist going around second, as he thought the ball was gone. However, it had actually bounced just short of the fence, allowing A.J. Vagliani to race back and pick it up. He fired it in to the cutoff man, who saw the tying run turning third base, and the Nittany Lions were able to cut down the runner at home for the final out of the game.
 
With the 7-6 win, Penn State Abington moves back to .500 with a 7-7 overall record. The win was also their first conference victory of the season, as the squad now sits 1-0 in that respect. They'll now have a valuable day off before they face a stretch of play that includes eight games in six days. That run will get started on Friday afternoon when the Nittany Lions host SUNYIT for a doubleheader that was rescheduled from last weekend. Game times are scheduled for 1:00 and 3:00 pm, and as always, be sure to follow all your Penn State Abington athletic teams online at abingtonsports.com.