Bison shutout Greater Allegheny, 10-0

Steve Janik, Assistant Sports Information

BETHANY, W.Va. (April 22) - The Bethany College baseball team shutout Penn State-Greater Allegheny 10-0 on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day.

With the victory, Bethany improves to 12-19-1 overall and Greater Allegheny falls to 7-15 on the campaign.

Offensively, senior Alex Martin (Sound Beach, N.Y./Miller Place) had a perfect day, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI. Ryan Nickerson finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored. Adam Becker (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township), Zach Schlotter (Twinsburg, Ohio/Gilmour Academy), Neil Woods (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), and Jake Stemmerich (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) all added two hits apiece with Stemmerich adding an RBI. John Lee (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two-RBI. 

On the mound, Nick Gross (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) started things off, going three innings, allowing just two hits and striking out three. Senior Bill McLuckie (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) earned his first collegiate victory after retiring all nine hitters he faced in his three innings pitched, including four strikeouts. 

Things started for the Bison in the first inning after Schlotter walked and advanced to second on a failed pickoff. After a wild pitch moved the runner to third, John Lee hit a sac fly to left field to bring home the games first run.

Bethany tacked on a run in the bottom of the third. Nickerson started the chance off with a single to center before taking second on a failed hit-and-run. A batter late, Alex Martin skied a ball to center that cleared the centerfielder, allowing Nickerson to score and take the 2-0 lead.

In the Bisons fifth opportunity at the plate, they added two runs to bump their lead to 4-0.  Stemmerich and Nickerson had consecutive singles before Tyler Frazee (Markleysburg, Pa./Uniontown) walked to load the bases. Martin drove home the third run with a single to center, also keeping the bases loaded. Zack Miller (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) capped off the scoring output with a sac-fly to center to score Nickerson.

The Green and White kept the heat up in their next time up, plating four runs. Martin topped the inning with a two-RBI double, his fourth of the day, making it 8-0 Bethany.

In their half of the seventh, Bethany got two more across, highlighted by senior Clayton Cottrille (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) earning his first career RBI in a pinch-hit appearance, thus ending the scoring for the day.

Next up, Bethany hosts Geneva on Friday, April 28 to close out the home portion of their 2017 schedule. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.