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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Bad hops happen in baseball, but most of the time, they hurt the visiting team more than the home team used to playing on the field that can cause them.
Unfortunately for Altoona, the Mountain Lions haven't played a lot in Juniata and it bit them badly in a 14-4 loss to State College Thursday afternoon.
Altoona made seven errors for the second game in a row and allowed the Little Lions to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning without a hit. In addition to two first-inning errors, the Lions also missed a chance to catch Evan Summerson on a steal after a botched tag.
"We're just not fielding the ball, and we're not throwing the ball once we do field it," Altoona coach Tom Smith said. "That's a bad combination. We gave up three runs in the first inning without allowing a hit. We didn't put a tag down on a steal where the guy was out. If we put the tag down, we're out of that inning with no runs. But three runs later, we're coming from behind. We're struggling to make plays in the field this year, and we know that. We're trying to do something about it, but it hasn't gotten much better."
Altoona played its second game at Juniata after Mansion Park, its normal home field, was deemed unplayable for the time being shortly before the season.
"We found out about a week or two before the season started," Smith said. "We knew that Mansion was not available, but it's no big deal. It is what it is. We have used the Curve's field for three games so far and been here twice."
The Mountain Lions have had success at PNG Field, getting a nice win over Red Land, beating Chambersburg and winning the Curve Classic.
"It's been great," Smith said. "What kid wouldn't want to play out there? You want to play there as much as you can. We're appreciative of our district and the Curve for getting us out there. We have one more game there against Hollidaysburg later in the year."
Altoona managed to overcome the early deficit with three runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Bryce Eberhart and Sam Saylor singled, and the Lions took advantage of a State College error on a tough hop to score their first run. Connor Weyandt followed with a two-run triple that tied the game.
But State College came right back with the help of another error and took a 6-3 lead in the top of the third inning.
"I think it's huge (to respond), because it puts the momentum back in our dugout instead of theirs," State College coach David Williams said. "We jumped out ahead by three and were feeling pretty good, but then they came back with three and took that feeling away. If we don't get runs back, that keeps the momentum over there and could change how the game went. I think us being able to answer was the key to the game."
The teams traded runs in the fifth inning with Altoona's coming home thanks to a Sean Bettwy triple and Connor Blough RBI groundout.
But fielding woes struck Altoona again in the top of the sixth when it allowed seven runs following an inning-opening error that opened the door for the game to end via mercy rule. Several of State College's hits came on grounders that hopped wildly over Altoona fielders at the last second.
"Putting the ball in play puts the pressure on the defense," Williams said. "It makes them field it, catch it, throw it and receive it. We have those games as well where we boot it around. We know how important it is not to make easy outs. Make them catch and throw and put the pressure on them."
Altoona fell to 5-6 after going 4-0 last week.
"We need to pitch and start making plays," Smith said. "We have to manufacture runs, because we're not scoring a lot of them. We're facing a tough situation where we're not scoring a lot of runs, not pitching all that great and definitely not fielding the ball. That's an ugly recipe."
Sebastian Rhoades went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Little Lions, and Sam Janik pitched five innings and allowed just one run to pick up the win.
"We want to continue to grow," Williams said. "We have a mantra of moving one tick every game, every practice and every time we are together. We want to be playing our best baseball in May when we're in the district tournament against a tough Altoona team or Mifflin County team."
STATE COLLEGE (14): Summerson cf 310, Dillon cr-ph 131, Herzing 3b-ss 410, Messina 1b 412, Cooper c 301, Ryan ss-p 341, Weaverling 2b 421, Rhoades rf 413, Janik p 000, Harter dh 201, Davis dh 000, Bhannon 3b 000, Chestnut lf 210, Rothrock ph 100. Totals -- 31-14-10.
ALTOONA (4): Weyandt ss 301, Alwine ph 100, Bettwy c 312, Blough 3b 301, Lindsey rf 200, Stroup p 000, Riccio dh 300, Eberhart lf 211, Duffy ph 100, Smearman cf-p-2b 200, LaRocco ph 000, Saylor 1b 211, Yost ph 000, Freiwald 2b-p 210, Con. Sanders ph 100. Totals -- 25-4-6.
SCORE BY INNINGS
State College 303 017 X--14 10 1
Altoona 030 010 X-- 4 6 7
E--Blough 3, Weyandt 2, Stroup, Freiwald, Weaverling. 2B--Messina. 3B--Weyandt, Bettwy. RBI--Rhoades 3, Dillon 2, Messina 2, Harter, Ryan, Weyandt 2, Blough.
PITCHING
State College: Janik (W)--5 IP, 6H, 5K, 1BB, 4R, 1ER, 78 pitches. Ryan--1IP, 0H, 2K, 2BB, 0R, 0ER, 23 pitches.
Altoona: Stroup (L)--3 IP, 3H, 1K, 3BB, 6R, 2ER, 61 pitches. Smearman--2•IP, 2H, 1K, 1BB, 3R, 1ER, 26 pitches. FreiwaldѻIP, 5H, 2K, 1BB, 5R, 0ER, 29 pitches.
Records: State College (5-5); Altoona (5-6).