Genatossio’s Three Run Triple Leads Baseball to a Split with the Nittany Lions

PAXTON, Mass: The Anna Maria Baseball team split the day against Penn State Altoona, losing the first game by a score of 5-1 and winning the second 8-6 in sunny Kissimmee Florida.

Records Game one,         Game two

PSA: 3-5                                3-6

Anna Maria: 4-3                                5-3

Top performers for game one

The Lions had only four hits in the contest, with Richard Carey having one of them along with one of three RBI's for the team. Jordan McCall also tallied a hit for PSA and one RBI as he went 1-for-3.

Sawyer Kline pitched a complete game to pick up his first win of the season. Kline's day was a very dominant performance, with allowing only four hits with one earned and a whopping 14 strikeouts.

The AMCATS also were only able to pick up four hits, in the early morning game, with Nick Genatossio leading the way. Genatossio picked up the 'CATS only RBI in the first inning as he was 1-for-3 in the contest. Jason Shell, Greg Gahring, and Jackson Dobek rounded up the rest of the base hits for Anna Maria. Shell was 1-for-2 on the day with Gehring going 1-for-3 and Dobek finishing 1-for-4.

Colin Pipkin was tagged with the loss dropping him to 1-0 on the season as he let up all four hits and three earned in just four innings of work.

How It happened

The AMCATS were able to jump on top in the opening frame 1-0 on a Dobek single stolen base with an advancement to third on a throwing error. Dobek would later score on a Genatossio single. Pipkin was able to keep the Lions scoreless through two innings.

Altoona was able to get on the board in the third inning and continue to add runs throughout to get to their total of five runs. Even though the only had four hits they made all errors in the field count with timely hitting.

Game Two

Top Performers

Stephen Schanne led the Lions with two runs batted in, while going 2-for-4 and scoring twice. Clayton Hain and Justin Virga both went 2-for-4 with each getting one RBI. Chase Clouser also picked up two hits as he was 2-for-3 with the squad's final RBI.

Austin Miller was tagged with the loss as he let up five earned runs on nine hits and nine strikeouts.

For Anna Maria, Nick Genatossio and Jake Crevier picked up game highs with both tallying three RBI's a piece, while going 2-for-3 on the day. Adam Twitchell also went 2-for-3 with an RBI on a sac fly. Noah Holland rounded up the two hit club with him going 2-for-4 on the day. Jason Shell picked up another hit in game two along with an RBI.

Andrew Rodriques picked up his second win in as many outings, with three innings worth of work on four hits and one earned run.

How it Happened

Altoona was able to put up a three spot in the first inning that was quickly cut to a 3-2 lead after the AMCATS bottom of the first. PSA put two more on the board between the second and third innings.

Anna Maria wasn't able to push any runners across until the fifth when they put up two to get within one run. The 'CATS sixth inning was the biggest of the game as they manufactured four runs to take an 8-5 lead.

 It started with a Fili Veras single and a Jackson Dobek walk and after the third batter of the inning in Noah Holland getting another single the AMCATS had the bases loaded with just one out. That led to a pitching change for the Lions with Nick Genatossio coming to the plate. It was a lefty on lefty match up with Altoona hoping to have the upper hand, but Genatossio was able to show them why he was the rookie of the year last season as he hit a moon shot to deep right center field for a bases clearing triple to fire up the 'CATS into a two run lead. Adam Twitchell was able to add one more on a sac fly and push the lead to three going into the top of the seventh.

The top of the seventh ended with Anna Maria on top 8-6 with Andrew Rodriques closing the door for his second win.

Up Next

The ANCATS will be back on the field for their final two contests in Florida this Saturday at Lake Myrtle Baseball Complex versus cross town Rivals Becker College, with first pitch coming at 4:30 PM.