Indiana (PA) got its bats going and banged out 30 hits to sweep a pair of PSAC Western Division games from Pitt-Johnstown, Friday afternoon in Indiana. The Crimson Hawks broke open a one run game with 13 runs over the final three innings to take the opener, 18-5, before completing the sweep with an 11-3 victory in the nightcap.
Evan Beach hit his fifth homer of the year for the Mountain Cats, now 14-27 overall and 7-13 in conference-play.
In game one, Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to a 4-0 second-inning lead. Beach's two-run homer to right gave the Mountain Cats a 2-0 advantage, before
Jake Ansell doubled home
Mario Disso and
Erik Rhodes to make it 4-0.
IUP answered right back with five runs in the bottom of the frame, highlighted by Peyton Johnson's lead off homer and Markus Sestra's three-run shot off of Pitt-Johnstown starter
Austin Hammerle.
It stayed that way until the Crimson Hawks broke it open with two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth, and eight more in the sixth.
Along with Beach's home run, Ansell went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI and
Devon Boyles added two hits for Pitt-Johnstown.
Hammerle took the loss and fell to 0-2 after allowing five runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings.
In game two, IUP opened up a 5-1 lead after two innings.
The Mountain Cats cut it to 5-3 in the top of the third on RBI doubles from
Asher Corl and Boyles, but Zach Miller connected for a two-run home run in a three-run bottom of the third to put the Crimson Hawks on top 8-3.
Corl was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Disso and Boyles each had hits and drove in a run for Pitt-Johnstown.
Seth Shuey got the start and suffered the loss to fall to 1-6 on the year after giving up three runs on four hits in the opening inning.
With the sweep, IUP took 3-of-the-4 games in the series and improved to 18-24 overall and 10-10 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to California (PA) for two PSAC West games on Friday, before returning home to the Point Stadium to finish the series with a doubleheader against the Vulcans on April 29.
