FORT PIERCE, Fla. \u2013 Paced by four hits from junior RF Anthony Packer (River Vale, N.J.\/Pascack Valley Regional) and three hits and three RBIs from sophomore 3B Brad Kubis (Aliquippa, Pa.\/Hopewell), the Bethany College baseball team scored a 9-5 victory over Susquehanna in the team\u2019s season opener down in Fort Pierce, Fla.<\/p>\n
The game had a good start for the Bison (1-0), as senior starting pitcher Zac Grayson (McKeesport, Pa.\/South Allegheny) struck out the first two batters in tossing a scoreless first inning. In the bottom of the frame, senior CF Tyler Dillinger (McKeesport, Pa.) stroked a leadoff single, took second on a ground out and scored when Kubis lined a two-out single to right field for a 1-0 BC lead.<\/p>\n
Bethany\u2019s advantage grew to 4-0 after three innings. In the second, senior LF Mike Pegg (Uniontown, Pa.\/Laurel Highlands) cracked a leadoff double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and trotted home when junior 1B Nate Tieman (Hilliard, Ohio\/Hilliard Darby) singled to left. Then in the third, senior 2B Eric Fudala (Uniontown, Pa.\/Laurel Highlands) walked and Packer singled with one out. Kubis followed by bashing a double to deep left to score both runners and increase the Bison lead to 4-0.<\/p>\n
Grayson was cruising on the hill through the first three innings, but allowed a single tally in the fourth, as Susquehanna (3-7) pushed home a run. Then in the fifth, the Crusaders struck for three runs with two outs, two coming on a double from Ben Anderson, and SU drew even on a two-out RBI single by Nick Ferlise.<\/p>\n
The Bison wasted little time in responding. In the bottom of the fifth, Fudala, Packer and Kubis all singled with one out to load the bases and the go-ahead run scored on a fielder\u2019s choice by Pegg. Sophomore DH Chuck Ziants (Moundsville, W.Va.\/John Marshall) made it a 6-4 BC lead with an RBI single.<\/p>\n
Bethany\u2019s lead swelled to 9-4 with three more runs in the sixth. Freshman SS Taylor Fortney (Houston, Texas\/Spring Hill) scored from third when Dillinger stole second and the throw went into center field. The last two runs came across on RBI singles from Fudala and Ziants.<\/p>\n
Susquehanna trimmed one run off the Bison margin in the seventh, but senior Mike Kochman (Pittsburgh, Pa.\/Serra Catholic) finished off a strong four-inning effort by blanking the Crusaders in the final two innings. He earned the save for senior Adam Nyswaner (McDonald, Pa.\/South Fayette), who recorded the final out of the fifth inning.<\/p>\n
Eight of the nine Bison starters in the line-up recorded at least one hit, as BC totaled 16 in the victory. Packer recorded his second career four-hit game and first since his freshman season, while Kubis, who hit .450 and drove in 44 to earn All-American accolades last year, picked up right where he left off with a double, two singles and three RBIs. Fudala, Pegg and Ziants all picked up two hits apiece as well.<\/p>\n
Bethany will be back in action tomorrow when they play Earlham (Ind.) College in a twinbill at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORT PIERCE, Fla. \u2013 Paced by four hits from junior RF Anthony Packer (River Vale, N.J.\/Pascack Valley Regional) and three hits and three RBIs from sophomore 3B Brad Kubis (Aliquippa, Pa.\/Hopewell), the Bethany College baseball team scored a 9-5 victory over Susquehanna in the team\u2019s season opener down in Fort Pierce, Fla. The game had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n