Christopher Dacanay
Sports Editor
The Franciscan University of Steubenville baseball team took a devastating 21-7 loss against the Pennsylvania State University-Behrend Lions Thursday at 4 p.m.
The game at Vaccaro Field was the Barons’ second home game of the season. It was a non-conference match against the Division III Lions, who are not a part of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
The Barons took an early 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first inning. A sacrificial fly ball by sophomore second baseman Andrew Normandin brought senior second baseman Patrick Wallace home for the Barons’ first run batted in of the game.
Tides quickly changed as the Lions batted in eight runs during the top of the second inning. The Barons responded with a double by Normandin, welcoming home senior second baseman Michael Maynard and junior third baseman Aidan Hickey.
A major scoring drought for the Barons followed; the Lions, on the other hand, had batted in nine more runs by the end of the sixth inning, making the score 19-5.
The Barons pulled through in the seventh inning, batting in two more runs by Wallace and Hickey respectively.
This would not prove to be enough, as the Lions scored two more runs in the eighth inning, cementing their victory over the Barons. The Lions were coming off of a five-game losing streak.
Wallace led the Barons with three hits out of four times at bat. This tied him with alumnus second baseman Jacob Machado for most hits achieved during an individual career; both have 84 total hits achieved as of this game.
The Barons returned to Vaccaro Field Saturday for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. against Westminster College. They lost the first game 11-2 as well as the second game 14-4.
The Barons’ next home games will be a doubleheader against Waynesburg University on April 5 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.