ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon baseball team got a pair of decent pitching performances, but was unable to muster any offense during a pair of losses Tuesday afternoon at first-place Seton Hill. The Golden Knights dropped both ends of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) doubleheader by scores of 5-1 and 4-2.
Gannon fell behind 5-0 during the opener. Seton Hill produced the lead with three runs in the second inning, one in the third and one in the fifth. The Golden Knights countered with their only run during the top of the sixth inning. With one out,
Tommy Roache (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez Catholic) singled and
Bob Roach (Erie, Pa./McDowell) doubled.
Jared Wiesen (Girard, Ohio/Liberty) followed with an RBI ground-out.
Five different Golden Knights recorded a hit during the first game.
Aaron Cox (Dorchester, N.J./Millville) dropped to 4-3 despite recording his sixth complete game of the season. The sophomore allowed five runs on nine hits, striking out four and walking one.
In the nightcap, the two teams battled to a 2-2 tie through five and one-half innings. Seton Hill struck first with a pair of runs during its first at-bat. Gannon responded with single tallies during the third and fifth innings.
Jeff Rachow (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Arcadia) drew a lead-off walk during the top of the third inning, before moving to third base on Wiesen's sacrifice bunt and a ground-out. He then scored on Cox's infield single.
Gannon used small ball again to tie the contest in the fifth. Roach led off with a single, moved to second base on Rachow's sacrifice bunt and scored the tying run on Wiesen's RBI single.
However, Seton Hill answered with the go-ahead run during its half of the fifth inning and added an insurance run in the sixth inning. The Golden Knights managed only one base runner while striking out four times during the final two frames.
Cox recorded two of Gannon's four hits during the second game.
Aaron Jackson (Sugar Grove, Pa./Eisenhower) tossed his second complete game of the season despite the loss, surrendering four runs on five hits. The redshirt freshman struck out two and walked three.
Gannon dropped to 6-18 overall and 2-8 in the PSAC Western Division with its seventh consecutive loss. Seton Hill improved to 20-9 overall and 9-1 in divisional play. The Golden Knights return to action Friday, April 4 at Slippery Rock. The PSAC West twinbill is scheduled for 1 p.m.
