MEDIA, Pa. – Freshman left-hander David Drea scattered four hits in six-plus innings of scoreless work and the Ursinus College baseball team turned a critical double play to stave off a late threat and score a 4-2 victory at Penn State Brandywine on Friday afternoon.
Drea held Penn State Brandywine down until the seventh, when the home side loaded the bags with just one out. Sophomore Matt Radwanski came on to stem the tide, however, averting the danger with one of three double plays. He surrendered a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth but recovered to close the door with a strikeout and give the Bears their sixth victory in the last seven games.
Ursinus (12-5) played from in front early, manufacturing a second-inning rally via a pair of bunts and capitalizing on one of the Lions' four errors on the afternoon. Junior Alex Campbell started the frame with a single to left, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on freshman Carter Usowski's base hit up the middle.
After a fielding error put runners on the corners with one out, junior CJ Diana laid down a sacrifice bunt to plate Usowski and double the advantage.
After two first-inning singles, Penn State Brandywine (4-12) was rendered mostly anemic by the left arm of Drea. The rookie, who walked six in three-plus innings in his last start, was on cruise control for much of the day, retiring 11 of 12 from the second frame through the sixth.
With Drea rolling, the Bears padded their cushion in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs on a hit by pitch and consecutive singles by junior Austin Kurey and Usowski. After a pop-out, Diana drove a run in with an infield hit, and Brandywine's fourth error allowed Kurey to score to make it a 4-0 spread.
The Bears' rookie southpaw finally ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh, walking the bases loaded with only one out. But with the tying run at the plate, Radwanski induced an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play, fielding a comebacker and firing to Campbell to force the lead runner at third, and the Ursinus catcher gunned down to first to complete the momentum-killing play.
Drea's final line showed 6.1 scoreless innings with four hits allowed, four strikeouts, and three walks. He improved to 2-0 on the season and has allowed just one earned run over his first three collegiate starts.
Radwanksi used another double play, this one of the 3-6-1 variety, to erase a leadoff single in the eighth. The right-hander hit the leadoff man in the ninth, but produced a 5-4-3 double play, the Bears' fourth of the afternoon. Anthony Bianchini homered to left to keep the Lions' hopes alive, but Radwanski set down John Gorgone swinging to end it.
Campbell reached base on four of his five plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch and scoring two runs. Diana was 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Usowski (2-for-4, run, RBI) and Kurey (2-for-2, double, run) also produced multi-hit performances.
The Bears complete a stretch of four games in three days with a non-conference doubleheader at Penn State Berks on Saturday, March 26.