Box Score Washington, D.C. – The Penn State Abington baseball squad closed their regular season on a tough note earlier Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions were unable to contain the high-powered offense of Gallaudet University, as the Bison used eight- and four-run innings to run away with a 17-7 victory. Penn State Abington put up a big six-run frame themselves in the contest, but the pitching staff was unable to do anything to shut down the potent Bison offense in the high-scoring affair.
 
Gallaudet (25-15, 12-6 NEAC) jumped out in front in today's game from the get-go, as the Bison got single runs in both the first and second innings. However, the big damage came in the eight-run third inning. An RBI triple opened the scoring before a ground-rule double plated another run. Back-to-back RBI singles then scored two more runs. Later in the inning, after the Nittany Lions had changed pitchers, three more singles knocked in four more base runners. By the time Penn State Abington was able to get out of the inning, Gallaudet had sent 14 batters to the plate and taken a 10-0 lead. Penn State Abington (18-19-1, 10-8 NEAC) made a valiant comeback effort in the top of the fourth though. A.J. Vagliani led off the inning with a single, and then a dropped fly ball put runners on first and second. After a fly out, a single by Callan Palmer loaded the bases. Ted Smallwood and Tom Kreiling drew back-to-back walks to follow that, scoring the Blue and White's first two runs of the game. Tom Ditro came up next, and he plated another run with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 10-3. Another walk re-loaded the bases, and then Fran Caruso was nailed by a pitch to force across another run. After the Bison made a pitching change of their own, Vagliani came back up and drew another bases-loaded walk, making it 10-5. Then, Vince DiPiero singled home another run, getting the Nittany Lions back within four runs by the time the inning was over.
 
Unfortunately, it was simply too little to faze the Bison in the end. Gallaudet scored four more runs in the bottom of the next inning, re-upping their lead to 14-6. Penn State Abington sliced back into that deficit with a single run in the top of the seventh thanks to an RBI groundout from Ted Smallwood. Gallaudet was not to be chased down, however, as they answered with three more runs in the bottom of the same inning to jump ahead 17-7.
 
With the loss, the Nittany Lions slip just under .500 at 18-19-1 overall on the season. They finish with a 10-8 record, good enough for a tie for fourth place in the NEAC conference with SUNYIT. However, because the Wildcats took the season series from Penn State Abington 2-1, SUNYIT is awarded the tiebreaker and thus the final place into the 2014 North Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Championship tournament. Check back at abingtonsports.com in the upcoming days for any updates on potential future games for baseball as they wrap up the rest of their 2014 season.