KUTZTOWN, Pa. — The Mansfield Mountaineers (6-10, 1-1 PSAC East) begin conference play in Kutztown where they took on the Golden Bears (7-13, 1-1 PSAC East) for a doubleheader on Friday (Mar. 21) afternoon.
 
Game One: Mansfield 10, Kutztown 9
 
Mansfield turned to their number one, Austin Lewis for game one of the weekend. Lewis started his day by loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the first. He responded by striking out two of the next three batters and escaping the inning unscathed.
 
The Mounties offense put up a crooked number in the second. Hunter Smith started the inning with a double to left. Kahale Burns gave Mansfield the lead with a double of his own to score Smith. Ryan Sekulski followed with a homer to left-center to vault the Mountaineers ahead 3-0. Jacob Houtz singled back up the middle to give the visitors a four-run lead early in game one.
 
Kutztown got one back in the bottom half of the second to cut their deficit to 4-1 after two innings of play.
 
Burns and Sekulski added two more for Mansfield in the third and Lewis kept Kutztown off the board in the bottom to maintain the Mountaineer advantage.
 
The Mountaineers added three more in the inning thanks to a wild pitch, and two RBI hits, one from Shane Stossel and Houtz to take a 9-1 lead.
 
The 10th run of the game for the Mounties came in the fourth off a Ryan Verbonitz single.
 
KU added six runs over the fifth and sixth innings to cut the game to 10-7 entering the seventh inning.
 
Alex Bucolo came on in relief of Lewis in the fifth and threw 1.2 innings and gave up just one earned run.
 
In the seventh, the Golden Bears scored two quickly before the Mountaineers could record an out but Mansfield pitcher Mason Pfeil retired three of the final four Kutztown batters to hold on to the victory in game one.
 
Game Two: Kutztown 8, Mansfield 7

Mansfield game two starter Shane Stossel helped himself by starting the scoring in game two with an RBI single to bring home Sekulski and take a 1-0 lead. Smith brought home two more before an out was recorded in the first to give Mansfield a three-run lead with a two-RBI double down the left-field line.
Houtz added another, scoring an error by the Kutztown shortstop that allowed Mike Biuso to reach.
 
Kutztown responded with two in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a wild pitch and an RBI double.
 
The Golden Bears tied the game at four in the bottom of the second after an RBI single and a sac fly by the KU shortstop.
 
Jeffrey Coakley put the Mounties back on top with an RBI double and Burns followed with a two-run homer to go up 7-4 after 3 ½ innings.
 
Stossel completed 4.0 innings on the bump and allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out three hitters. Austin Beauchamp came on in relief to begin the fifth.
 
In the fifth, the Golden Bears scored a run with an RBI walk and another with an RBI groundout to cut the Mansfield advantage to one.
 
Luke Raho was called on in the sixth to hold the slim margin for the Mountaineers and faced the minimum, sending the game to the final inning of play.
 
The Mansfield half of the seventh began with back-to-back walks but a flyout and double play ended the Mountie threat in the top half of the inning.
 
Raho came back out in the seventh looking to lock down the save and secure the sweep for the Mounties.
 
An error, a walk, and a single, loaded the bases with nobody out in the home half to set up KU for a walk-off opportunity. Kutztown tied the game with a walk and a Mansfield error allowed the Golden Bears to steal game two and earn a split in Friday's doubleheader.
 
UP NEXT:
The Mountaineers welcome the Golden Bears to Joseph Shaute Field on Saturday afternoon for their first home games of the 2025 season. The doubleheader is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.