Baseball Wins First Game In NCAA Regionals
By Ryan Gaydos
@KUTowerSports
As the first seed in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional, the Kean University baseball squad took on the No. 8 seed Penn State-Harrisburg in the first round Wednesday at PNC Field in Moosie, P.A., the home of the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRunners affiliated with the New York Yankees.
The Cougars jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the early part of the game and never looked back. The Cougars were able to tack on seven more runs in the game to propel to a 12-7 victory against Penn-State Harrisburg.
Third baseman Andy Lopez went 3-for-4 driving in three runs. Left field Joe O’Connor also continued his great season going 3-for-3 with four RBI in the game. Those two players stepped up their games and after being eliminated in the conference tournament on their home field, it was a definite confidence booster.
Nick Zucchero picked up his fourth win of the season and struck out seven batters.
The Nittany Lions almost sprung a comeback but fell short in the end. Jim Klingerman fell to 7-2 on the season after lasting three innings allowing five earned runs on eight hits.
Catcher Tim Gonzalez contributed three RBI in the loss as well.
Kean will take on Alvernia Thursday.