The Pitt-Johnstown baseball team made the 2022 home-opener a good one. The Mountain Cats walked off with a 4-3 victory over Salem in Saturday's first game of a non-conference doubleheader at Point Stadium, before securing a 10-5 win in the nightcap.
Asher Corl belted a pair of home runs and drove in five and
Justin Turcovski hit a three-run homer to help Pitt-Johnstown improve to 9-5-1.
In game one, Pitt-Johnstown erased a 2-0 fifth inning deficit, the used
Lennox Pugh's walk-off RBI bases hit in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 4-3 win.
Scott Kondroik's solo homer to right in the Salem half of the fourth put the Tigers on top, 1-0, before an unearned run in the fifth made it 2-0.
The Mountain Cats struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Pugh's two-out RBI singe to center scored
Mario Disso, and Corl followed with a two-run homer to left center that gave Pitt-Johnstown the lead.
The Tigers knotted it a three off of Pitt-Johnstown reliever
Brando Souders in the top of the seventh.
However, the Mountain Cats loaded the bases with no out, and eventually got Pugh's single through the left side that plated scored Disso with the game-winning run.
Pugh went 2-for-4 with a pair of TBI, while Corl belted the two-run home run for the Mountain Cats.
Jake Ansell added two hits and
Dylan Broderick doubled.
Souders picked-up the win in relief of starter
Rodney Shultz after allowing a run on two hits in the top of the seventh. Shultz pitched the first six innings and limited Salem to two runs (1 earned) on four hits, while striking out six and walking two.
In game two, Turcovski connected for a three-run homer and Corl hit a solo shot in the 10-5 win.
Kondroik's sacrifice flying in the to of the first gave the Tigers a quick 1-0 lead, but Pitt-Johnstown answered to take the lead in the bottom of the second on Turcovski's three-run blast to left center.
The Tigers got a run back in the top of the third, before Corl connected for his second homer of the day, a solo shot to left, in the bottom of the frame to give the Mountain Cats a 4-2 advantage.
Kondroik tripled home Easy Goita in the top of the fifth to narrow Salem's gap to 4-3.
Pitt-Johnstown added four insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth.
Turcovski was 3-for-3 with a three-run homer and three runs, and Corl went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs. Pitt-Johnstown also got two hits, including a double, and RBI, and two runs from Disso, and a RBI each from
Tyler Smith and
Josh Reynolds.
Taylor Squiric improved to 2-0 after limiting the Tigers to two runs (1 earned) on five hits. Squiric struck out nine and walked one.
With the losses, Salem slipped to 4-17.
The Mountain Cats will close out the four-game, home-and-home, series against Salem with a doubleheader in Nutter Fort, W.Va. on Sunday. Pitt-Johnstown will then begin PSAC West-play with a doubleheader at Seton Hill on Friday and a pair of games against the Griffins at Point Stadium on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
