Eagles Fall 14-4 in Home Finale to Moravian

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata baseball team fell 14-4 to Moravian in their home finale Sunday afternoon.

The Greyhounds quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a pair of homeruns in the top of the first. Juniata saved a run to end the inning when Chris Schreder (Litiz, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) threw out Cameron Leon at home. 

Juniata would answer Moravian in the bottom of the third. Devyn Carper (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) led off with a single out to left centerfield. Zach Tobash (Macungie, Pa. / Allentown Central) followed with a single through the left side, advancing Carper to second. A sacrifice-bunt from Josh Keszczyk (Boyertown, Pa. / Boyertown Area) moved two into scoring position with one out and Nick Stubbs (Hagerstown, Md. / South Hagerstown) coming up to bat. 

Stubbs put the Eagles on the board with an RBI-single through the right side. An error from the third basemen brought Anthony Lombardo (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona Area) to first and moved Stubbs to second. Klusman then singled through the left side to load the bases for Schreder. Schreder knocked in a run on a groundout to short before the Greyhounds escaped the inning.

Juniata entered the fourth with new life, having tied the game at 3. A sacrifice fly would bring in Moravian's first run of the inning. A second homerun from Mike Mittl gave the Greyhounds a 6-3 lead. Later in the inning, Keszczyk would throw Alex Bull out at second on a stolen base attempt to get Juniata out of the inning down 7-3. 

In the bottom half of the forth, Carper would single to center with one out to get the offense moving again for the Eagles. He stole second base before Tobash got hit by a pitch to put two on for JC. A single from Keszczyk loaded the bases for Stubbs. Stubbs reached on a fielder's choice that got Keszczyk out at second and allowed Carper to cross home plate, making it a 7-4 ball game. 

The Greyhounds picked up one run in the fifth and then added three runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to go on to win by a 14-4 final.

Isaac Kline (Everett, Pa. / Bedford) started on the mound for the Eagles and threw 6.0 innings, striking out four batters. Hunter Price (Huntingdon, Pa. / Huntingdon Area) relieved Kline in the seventh. J.D. Weyant (New Paris, Pa. / Chestnut Ridge) came in to throw the eight and recorded two strikeouts. Closing out the game on the mound was senior Jon Geyer (Newport, Pa. / Newport). Geyer gave up zero hits, zero runs and recorded one strikeout in the ninth. 

Juniata finishes out their regular season on the road with a single game against Penn State Harrisburg Weds. April 27 at 4:00 p.m. and a three-game Landmark Conference series against Catholic on the weekend.