MANSFIELD, Pa. - The Mansfield Mountaineers baseball team (13-25, 6-18 PSAC East) welcomed the Kutztown Golden Bears (14-27, 8-16 PSAC East) to Joseph Shaute Field on Sunday afternoon for the final two games of a four-game series in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern division.
Game 1
Cole Serfass' single gave the Mounties an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first driving in Zachary Shertzer after his lead-off single.
Kutztown tied the game with a solo home run in the top of the second.
The Golden Bears jumped ahead in the third with their second homer of the day, this time a two-run shot to give KU a 3-1 lead.
Mansfield Starter Ryan King was replaced by Austin Beauchamp in the top of the fourth inning with runners on second and third and just one out.
The KU offense exploded for seven runs in the inning to extend their lead to nine.
Kutztown's third home run of the day came in the top of the sixth, further cushioning their advantage.
Nicholas Ficarro relieved Beauchamp in the top of the sixth and got out of the jam.
Mansfield got two runs in the bottom of the sixth off of two RBI groundouts, one from Shay Gustafson and the other from Shertzer.
The Mountaineers put a runner on in the seventh but couldn't push any runs across and dropped game one 12-3.
Game 2
Game two starter Eric Gustofson needed just 11 pitches to retire the Golden Bears in order in the top of the first.
Ryan Sekulski singled to get the offense started in game two, Cole Serfass followed with a walk and Jacob Houtz was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out.
Ryan Verbonitz brought in the first run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly to score Sekulski and give Mansfield a 1-0 lead.
Sekulski doubled home Shertzer in the bottom of the second to extend the Mountaineer lead to two.
Kutztown cut into the Mansfield lead with a lead-off home run in the top of the fifth but Gustofson settled back in retiring the next three batters to maintain the 2-1 lead.
The Mounties picked up three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, two coming from a long home run off the bat of Houtz.
Entering the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead, Gustofson returned to the mound looking to close out his complete game and secure his second win of the season.
Gustofson did just that striking out two in the inning and picking off a runner to retire the side and nail down the 5-1 victory.
UP NEXT:
The Mountaineers travel to D'Youville to take on the Saints for a single non-conference game on Tuesday, April 23. The first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
