ARLINGTON, Va. - A mighty swing from Blaine Waltimyer sparked a comeback and stellar relief pitching put the game on ice in a 7-5 road victory for No. 20/20 Penn State Harrisburg over Marymount (Va.) at Capital One Park on Wednesday night, April 23.
Waltimyer homered and walked twice, while Demetre Koutras III had a three-hit night. Alex Ruiz and Carlos Irizarry each had multi-hit outings and Brendan Henn scored a pair of runs. Reliever Danny Eden was excellent in securing the save, racking up six strikeouts without allowing a baserunner in three innings of work. Fellow reliever Sam Thompson also threw three innings without allowing a run to earn the win.
With the Saints (18-16) leading 5-2 in the top of the fifth, Waltimyer blasted a two-run home run over the wall in right field to bring Drew Sassaman around with him and cut the deficit to one. Henn followed with a double and Koutras moved him to third with a single before a Ruiz sacrifice fly tied things up. Moises Gonzalez came through with a two-out RBI single to right field that drove in Koutras and Irizarry scored on a double steal to double the advantage and close out the half inning.
Thompson worked through the next two stanzas without allowing a runner to advance past first before Eden entered in the seventh and slammed the door on Marymount with a dominant performance that included three straight 1-2-3 innings to end the game and six strikeouts.
The Lions (26-9-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead to begin the game thanks to an RBI groundout from Koutras that scored Waltimyer and a Ruiz single to left field that drove in Henn. The Saints put together their lone big inning of the night in the third, using five hits, including a pair of doubles, to score five runs but Thompson entered in the fourth and kept Marymount off balance the rest of the way.
NOTABLES
- Eden was outstanding in relief, retiring all nine batters he faced and racking up six strikeouts to earn the save.
- Thompson picked up the win, throwing three innings of relief without surrendering a hit or allowing a run.
- Waltimyer hit his seventh home run of the season and walked twice, driving in two runs and scoring two more.
- Koutras finished 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
- Henn doubled and scored a pair of runs.
- Ruiz was 2-for-4 and drove in two runs.
- Irizarry went 2-for-2 with two walks, a stolen base and a run scored.
WHO'S NEXT?
The Lions return home to host Scranton on Thursday afternoon.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Facebook, X and Youtube using the handle @pshbgathletics.
