Baseball: Lavezza reaches 100 career strikeouts; Bison swept by Bobcats

Drew VonScio, Student Assistant for Athletic Communications 

GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Bethany baseball team travelled this afternoon to take on Pitt-Greensburg in a non-conference doubleheader. Despite posting 12 runs over the course of 14 innings, the Green and White left empty-handed in the win column, dropping game one by a score of 8-7 and game two by a score of 10-4.

The opener saw the hosts strike first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning on a triple off of Bethany starting pitcher Mark Lavezza. After conceding the two, the senior right-hander would get out of the inning and limit the damage.

Bethany went to work offensively and put on a showcase in the top of the second when they posted six runs. Nick Roell nabbed an RBI when he reached base on a walk to score Alec Berg. Colton Stoneman then singled to the shortstop and drove in two as Devin Toothman and Tyler Mckee scored. Freshman catcher CJ Owens delivered a booming three-run homerun that plated Stoneman, Roell, and himself to give the Green and White a commanding lead.

Pitt-Greensburg would proceed to slowly chip away at their deficit and go on to reclaim the lead in the top of the fourth. An insurance run came through for the Bobcats in the sixth that proved to be the decider as Luke Beatty doubled to center in the top of the seventh to score Derek Black.

Lavezza struck out the magic number four that he needed to reach 100 strikeouts in his career this afternoon as the Bison fell 8-7. He continues to work his way up the leaderboards here at Bethany. Zach Nolf pitched the final two innings conceding a lone run.

Game two had a much different plan as the Bobcats took an early two-run lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Bison would then use the third and fourth innings to claim an advantage as Roell singled to center and scored Toothman before Cory Newman picked up the

RBI walk that allowed Josh Speaker to cross the plate. In the fourth, Roell would then be hit by a pitch that would plate Hayden Fox.

Pitt-Greensburg would go on a tear in the bottom half of the fourth inning as their bats got extremely hot and drove in seven runs to flip the game on its head.

Toothman would pick up an RBI on a free pass in the top of the fifth inning before the hosts added another run for good measure in the bottom of the sixth.

Defensive miscues hurt the Bison as four errors allowed baserunners to reach and cross the plate. Trey Mantle would concede eight in 3.2 innings with just four of them being earned as he struck out a trio of Bobcats.

After having their eight-game winning streak come to an end, Bethany will have to turn around quickly and get ready for Thursday when they host Penn State-New Kensington. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.