CARLISLE, Pa. – Penn State Harrisburg picked up its second-straight victory and the team's seventh of the season when the Lions earned a hard-fought 6-3 road win over a solid Dickinson squad on Monday afternoon, Apr. 21.  After trailing 1-0 in the early going, the Blue & White took a 2-1 lead in the third inning and never trailed again.

Sophomore Eric Hoover (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey) was 2-5 with two runs scored while senior Travis Crammer (Cerritos, Calif. / Cerritos) and freshman Troy Taber (Park Ridge, N.J. / Park Ridge) each went 1-4 with an RBI.

Dickinson made the visitors pay for leaving runners on the corners during the stanza prior and for committing two errors when the Red Devils scored the game's first run, an unearned tally, in the bottom of the second. 

The Lions had an answer, however, and in the top of the third, Hoover and Houseal got things rolling with back-to-back singles.  Taber drove in Hoover with a single to center field and Houseal eventually gave Penn State Harrisburg its first advantage of the day at 2-1 when he scored following a Dickinson error. 

The Blue & White took advantage of two more Red Devil errors and used two hits to up their lead to 5-1 in the top of the fifth stanza.  Taber and sophomore Bryan Balshy (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra) both reached due to mistakes by the Dickinson infield and Crammer's bunt single loaded the bases.  Junior Jim Quinn's (Thornton / Garnet Valley) sacrifice fly to left field plated Taber and freshman Tom Denniston (Harrisburg, Pa. / Bishop McDevitt) singled to left field and drove in Balshy a few batters later.  Crammer capped the scoring in the top of the frame by stealing home.

The home team responded by scoring its first earned runs of the afternoon; two tallies on four hits in the bottom half of the stanza to cut the deficit to 5-3.

But Penn State Harrisburg picked up an insurance run in the eighth.  Hoover led off the inning with a single to left field and Houseal moved him along to second base with a groundout to the right side.  Balshy singled to right field and Crammer's ensuing sacrifice fly to center field brought him home and increased the Lions' advantage to three runs.

The Red Devils threatened in the bottom of the frame when they moved runners into scoring position but Penn State Harrisburg reliever Derek Slagle (York Haven, Pa. / Red Land) got the final Dickinson batter of the stanza to ground out to shortstop Logan Hall (Sunbury, Pa. / Shikellamy) to end the threat and preserve the Lions' lead.

Slagle stayed strong in the ninth inning and allowed the home team nothing, sealing Penn State Harrisburg's second-consecutive victory.

Blue & White starter Will Chaney (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg) was strong and picked up his third win of the season on the mound while allowing just two earned runs and two walks in addition to striking out two batters.  Slagle allowed just one hit in two innings of work and managed one strikeout. 

Houseal was 1-3 with a run scored and a walk while Hall also recorded two hits.  The Lions got some much needed production from the top of their lineup as the 1-3 hitters in Hall, Hoover and Houseal accounted for five of the team's nine hits while the middle of the order in Taber, Balshy, Crammer and Quinn did its job as well by accounting for three total RBIs.

The Blue & White will try to win their third-straight when they next hit the diamond on Tuesday afternoon, Apr. 22.  The Lions face a tough Elizabethtown squad on the road with the first pitch scheduled for 4:15 p.m.     

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