IUP baseball loses close non-conference game to Pitt-Greensburg, 3-2

The Crimson Hawks (19-21-1) took a break from PSAC West play to host Pitt-Greensburg on Wednesday in preparation for the PSAC playoffs in two weeks.

 The Hawks were on the losing end of a close game 3-2.

“All credit goes to Pitt Greensburg,” IUP Head Coach Jeff Ditch said. “They beat us on the field.  We really did a good job pitching, but the Pitt Greensburg pitchers held us down offensively,”

The Hawks had Ben Weimer start the game, but he went only four innings. He allowed no runs and had two strikeouts.

Even though the pitching was there for the Hawks, the hitting wasn’t. It took the Hawks until the fourth inning to score run. John Beatty doubled to left field and scored Aaron Lupia. During the next at bat, a wild pitch was thrown. Mike Lupia scored from third and that moved Beatty into scoring position. Unfortunately, the Hawks were unable to score any more runs.

It took Pitt-Greensburg until the seventh inning to finally get on the board. Dylan Brooks moved to third on a wild throw and then scored when the Hawks tried to tag him out at third. The catcher over threw the third basemen and Brooks was able to cut the Hawks lead to 2-1.

Also in the seventh inning Brian Colish homered to right center and it scored Dan Moyer to give the Panthers a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. Mike Pearson (2-2) was credited with the win for the Panthers.

As for the Hawks, Kyle Zaorski (0-2) was credited with the loss.

The Hawks must now turn their focus to Slippery Rock this weekend as they will play back-to-back doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday. The Hawks will host Slippery Rock on Friday at Owen Dougherty Field. Then will make the trip to Slippery Rock on Saturday.

“Slippery Rock has a long tradition of baseball success in the PSAC,” Ditch said. “They do a great job recruiting and coaching. We will have our hands full as their pitching is very dominating,”

“Each series is a challenge, and this weekend even more so with the fact that Slippery Rock is ahead of us in the standings and we need to get ourselves into playoff contention,” Ditch said.

 The Hawks will host Shippensburg Tuesday and will finish the season with back-to-back doubleheaders next week against Lock Haven.