READING, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team gave sophomore southpaw David Drea plenty of run support he hardly needed in a 10-3 non-conference victory at Penn State Berks on Thursday, the Bears' final tune-up before Centennial Conference play.
Drea was dominant from start to finish, twirling seven shutout innings for his first win of the year. The left-hander scattered three hits and fanned five to just one walk.
Ursinus (11-4) handed Drea an early lead and never looked back, racking up a season-high 16 hits. Sophomore Carter Usowski had three of them, including his second home run of the year, while seniors Alex Campbell (2-for-4, two runs, two RBI), Vincent Terry (2-for-4, RBI), and Austin Kurey (2-for-4, two RBI) and junior Travis Kozak (2-for-4, two runs) all had big days at the plate.
The Bears jumped right on top of the Nittany Lions (6-9) on Campbell's RBI single in the first inning, and senior Seth Regensburg doubled the margin with a base hit to right that plated Campbell from second. Senior Kieran Geyer doubled to start the second and came around on Campbell's groundout three batters later.
With Drea dealing, Ursinus expanded its lead with two more in the fifth. Kurey singled up the middle, took second on a wild pitch, and advanxed to third on Usowski's base hit through the left side. Terry guided a single through the right side to make it 4-0, and Geyer's bunt scored Usowski with the fifth run of the afternoon.
After Usowski's RBI single in the sixth, senior Avery Perez made it 7-0 with an RBI single in the seventh, and senior Jake Banks tacked on two more with a two-out base hit that plated Campbell and freshman Brian Varani.
Usowski's sole shot to left led off the eighth and capped the Bears' offensive exploits. The sophomore finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Drea induced an inning-ending double play in the third, and the Bears pulled off a strike 'em out, throw 'em out twin killing in the fourth.
The baseball team kicks off Centennial Conference action at Dickinson on Saturday, April 1.