COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team broke out the bats early and got a strong pitching performance from junior Lou Aikins to kick off a five-game home stand with a 9-5 non-conference victory over Lebanon Valley on Wednesday afternoon.
Aikins allowed only three hits in six effective innings for Ursinus (14-6), which pounced on a pair of Dutchmen errors to put up a five-spot in the second inning and never looked back in snapping the visitors' five-game winning streak.
An RBI single from junior catcher Tyler Strano – the fourth hit of his career – opened the scoring for the Bears, and junior CJ Diana moved him to third with a perfectly executed hit-and-run on a liner to right center. Classmate Kieran Geyer dropped a bunt down the first-base line, allowing Strano to dash home and double the advantage.
After a walk, the Lebanon Valley left fielder dropped a fly ball by junior Austin Kurey and two more runs came home. Junior Jay Farrell's two-out knock up the middle capped the five-run frame.
After the Dutchmen dented the scoreboard in the fifth, senior Chris Jablonski led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite-field home run to left center. The lefty's first homer of the season marked the 12th of his career, moving him into a tie for third on the program's all-time list.
After junior Timo Muro tripled into the right-center gap, junior Jake Banks plated him by legging out an infield hit, and Diana alertly took home when the shortstop attempted to throw out Banks from deep in the hole. That stretched the lead to 8-1, and Aikins worked around a two-out double to get through the sixth unblemished.
Lebanon Valley (10-11) got four back in the ninth, using three doubles and an error to trim the deficit in half before junior Connor McCarthy doused the comeback effort.
Mike Puglisi was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two of six doubles for the Dutchmen, who made four errors on the day. Philip Berry went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs, and an RBI.
Muro finished 3-for-4 – his first multi-hit game of the season – and scored twice for the Bears, also adding a diving in right to end the top of the seventh. The triple was the third of the year for Muro; half of his six hits have been three-baggers. Banks doubled his previous career RBI total with two; he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh. Diana scored a pair of runs.
Aikins (2-3) walked four and struck out two over his six innings, throwing 99 pitches. Junior Billie Buckwalter worked two scoreless frames with two strikeouts.
Ursinus plays host to DeSales on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. before opening Centennial Conference play with a doubleheader against Gettysburg on Saturday.
