Baseball drops a pair to Marywood on final day in Florida

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (March 17) - The Bison were dealt a pair of losses by Marywood Friday afternoon, falling by scores of 4-3 and 8-3 on the day.

The Bethany College baseball team concludes their time in the Sunshine State at 4-3-1 and fall to 4-5-1 overall this season. Meanwhile, the Pacers improve to 4-6 overall.

GAME 1: Marywood 4, Bethany 3

A tie-breaking run in the seventh inning by Marywood proved to be enough in the Bison's 4-3 game one loss.

Marywood took the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, but Bethany quickly responded with an RBI-double from sophomore John Lee (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) and a RBI-ground out by classmate Tyler Frazee (Markleysburg, Pa./Uniontown) to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame.

The Bison grabbed 3-2 lead in the second inning, when sophomore Brandon Wagner (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) drove in senior Zack Miller with a single into right field.

Marywood evened the game up at 3-3 with a run in the third inning, but neither team took advantage of runners in scoring position in the fifth inning. The Pacers left a runner on second, while the Bison were unable to capitalize with runners on the corners and nobody out. A line drive to the first baseman allowed Marywood to double-up the runner at first and a fly out ended the Bethany threat.

Marywood manufactured a run in the seventh inning to take the lead and retired the Bison in the bottom half to send Bethany to its second loss of the Florida trip.

Sophomore pitcher Nick Gross (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) was tagged with the loss. He limited the Pacers to four runs (two earned) on seven hits over six-plus innings of work.

Wagner and Lee each tallied two base hits to lead the Bison at the plate.

GAME 2: Marywood 8, Bethany 3

Marywood scored six-straight runs to open the game and held off Bethany to take game two 8-3 and complete the series-sweep.

The Pacers scored four in the first and added runs in the second and third to take a 6-0 lead.

The Green & White broke through in the fifth inning with RBI-base hits by sophomore Jake Stemmerich (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and Frazee to trim the deficit to 6-2, but the Bison did not get any closer.

Marywood rebuilt its lead to 8-2 with a pair of runs in the sixth, before an RBI-single by Frazee in the seventh brought the game to its final score.

Freshman pitcher Tyler Alworth (Brackenridge, Pa./Highlands) was charged with the loss. He allowed five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts over 1.1 innings of work on the mound.

Stemmerich and Frazee each finished the game with two hits, with Frazee driving in two runs in the loss.

The Bison will return north and are set to play their home opener on Tuesday, March 21 when they host Muskingum in a non-conference doubleheader. First-pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.