Eagles Split Final Day, Prep for Home Opener

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Juniata College baseball team split its last day of competition at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.  Juniata defeated Swarthmore 4-3 with a walk off single in game one, but fell 11-0 in game two.  The Eagles are now 3-8 overall and will open their home and conference season on Saturday, March 16 at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader against Scranton.

Senior Ben Mersky (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in the win.  He is currently hitting .382 to lead the team this season.

Juniata trailed 1-0 until Mersky's first hit of the day brought freshman Jimmy Szamski (Glen Am, Md./Eastern Tech) home in the bottom of the third.  Swarthmore had tied it up at 3-all in the sixth when the defense stepped up and shut the Garnett down. 

Mersky led off with a single in the bottom of the seventh.  He advanced to second on a sac bunt by junior Brad Medellin (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) and moved to third on a fielder's choice.  Garnett reliever Sean Magnes intentionally walked the next batter to give options on the force out.  But junior Joe Sforza (Pittstown, N.J./Immaculata) found a whole in the defense and drove in Mersky for the gamewinner.

Junior Mario DeYulis (Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win and improve 2-1 on the year.

The Eagles offense never got going in game two and Swarthmore was on fire.  Six pitchers saw time on the mound for Juniata.  Freshman David DeFreest (Duxbury, Vt./Harwood Union) earned a team-best two strikeouts in 1.1 innings.

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