Twenty-one runs. That is the total scored by the Chestnut Hill college baseball team Saturday afternoon as they took the opening game of a non-conference doubleheader against Lincoln University, 21-11 at the LU Baseball Complex in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.
The Lions went on to win game two 8-5 to earn a split of the two game series. The Griffins are now 6-12 overall while the Lions are 5-13-1.
Jake Schweiker earned his first win of the season in the opener, pitching five innings and striking out seven while allowing six runs (two earned).
Hilman Truss, a transfer to CHC from Lincoln had four RBI against his old team.
Brandon Long hit a home run and had three RBI while
Justin Geiger had three hits and three RBI.
Eli Meredith and
David Antone had two RBI apiece in the opener. Meredith also had two stolen bases.
The Griffins opened the game with seven runs in the first inning to take a 7-0 lead. Geiger drove in the first run with a single through the right side and Antone followed with a two-run double to centerfield. Two walks loaded the bases and Truss followed with a sacrifice fly to score Antone. Meredith, in his second plate appearance of the inning, singled to score the Griffins last two runs of the inning.
Two CHC errors led to five Lincoln runs in the bottom of the first before the Griffins blew the game open with runs in the next three innings. Long's two-run home run accounted for all the runs in the second inning while
Ahmaad Goldson and Geiger delivered RBI singles in the third. Truss also drove in two more with a single in the third as the Griffins increased their lead to 14-5.
The Griffins scored six more runs in the fourth inning to take a 20-5 lead, sending 11 batters to the plate.
RJ Huth started the run production, scoring on a wild pitch. Geiger and Long later added RBI singles and Truss got his fourth RBI of the day with a bases-loaded walk. An LU outfield error plated the final two runs of the inning.
Lincoln added a single run in the fifth, three more in the sixth and two in their final at-bat. Chestnut Hill got their final run in the seventh inning on back-to-back doubles by
Shawn Levan and
Greg Ianelli.
In game two, the Griffins were held to just six hits as the Lions pulled away late for an 8-5 win.
Mike Kiefer started and pitched four innings, allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out six.
Marlon Rose closed out the game, giving up the go-ahead runs in the sixth inning to take the loss.
Geiger had two of CHC's six hits. Huth drove in two runs and had the only extra-base hit in the game for the squad. Meredith and
Lloyd McLaughlin had one RBI apiece.
Lincoln took a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat but the Griffins countered with three second inning runs, two from Huth's double and the third when Meredith hit into a fielder's choice.
McLaughlin drove in Antone with the Griffins' fourth run in the third and
Andrew Sawarynski later scored on an error to give CHC a 5-2 lead.
Lincoln tied the game at 5-5 with a run in the bottom half of the third and two more in the fourth. The Lions took the lead for good with three runs on three hits I the bottom of the sixth to round out the scoring.
The Griffins brought the tying run to the plate in their final at-bat but could not score as the Lions hung on to win 8-5.
The men's baseball team opens up conference play on Wednesday with a home game against Wilmington University. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
