ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. — The St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team split a United East Conference-opening doubleheader with Penn State Berks on Sunday afternoon at the Hawk's Nest. The Seahawks dropped a high-scoring opener, 15–11, before bouncing back with a 12–8 victory in the nightcap.
Game 1 – Penn State Berks 15, St. Mary's 11
Penn State Berks used a series of big innings to outlast St. Mary's, 15–11, in a back-and-forth contest to open the doubleheader.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a quick 2–0 lead in the top of the first inning before the Seahawks answered immediately. Connor Wilkerson doubled to left field to bring home Eli Shafer, and Aaron Wathen followed with an RBI groundout to tie the game at two.
Penn State Berks regained control with a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth before adding three additional runs in the sixth to stretch the lead to 9–2.
St. Mary's mounted its biggest rally in the sixth inning, scoring four runs. Rhett Fletcher and Will Wilson each delivered RBI singles, Wilson later scored on a throwing error, and DJ Sifford added a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 9–6.
The Nittany Lions continued to respond offensively, including an inside-the-park home run by Carsen Brey in the seventh and a four-run ninth inning highlighted by a three-run triple from Andrew Seibert.
The Seahawks refused to go quietly, plating four runs in the bottom of the ninth on RBI singles by Wathen, Wilson, AJ Pyfferoen, and Andrew Harris, but Penn State Berks held on for the 15–11 win.
Wilkerson paced the Seahawks offensively, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Wilson added two hits and two RBIs. Shafer scored three runs in the contest.
Jordan Bonhoff (1-3) took the loss on the mound for St. Mary's.
Game 2 – St. Mary's 12, Penn State Berks 8
The Seahawks responded in the nightcap, erupting for a six-run fourth inning on the way to a 12–8 victory to earn the split.
St. Mary's took an early 2–0 lead in the first inning as Wathen drove in Shafer with a sacrifice fly before Kaden Hnath doubled to score Wilkerson.
After Penn State Berks cut the deficit to 2–1 in the second, the Seahawks added two more runs in the third before breaking the game open in the fourth inning.
Wilkerson delivered an RBI single, Fletcher followed with a two-run triple, and the Seahawks capitalized on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout from Wilson to push the lead to 10–1.
Penn State Berks trimmed the margin with three runs in the fifth, but St. Mary's answered with a sacrifice bunt RBI from Hnath in the bottom half of the inning and another run in the sixth to extend the lead to 12–4.
The Nittany Lions rallied for four runs in the ninth inning, but the Seahawks turned to Adam Ferony, who recorded the final three outs to secure his first save of the season.
Wilkerson led the Seahawks again with two hits, three runs scored, and an RBI, while Fletcher drove in two runs and scored twice. Hnath added two RBIs, and Kyle Catanzaro contributed three hits.
Ryan Matthews (2-1) earned the win for St. Mary's, allowing four runs (one earned) over 4.2 innings.
UP NEXT
St. Mary's will be back in action when they travel to Chatham Wednesday, March 18th for a non-conference matchup.
