March 8, 2009 | Box Score

Late Lead Escapes Again as Baseball Falls 7-5 in Towson Finale

    Towson, Md. -- Towson rallied in the final two innings for the second straight game and defeated the Youngstown State baseball team 7-5 in the series finale Sunday at Schuerholz Park.
    The Penguins jumped out to a 5-1 lead through four innings, but they were held scoreless on four hits by three Towson relievers. YSU outhit the Tigers 12-10 but stranded at least one runner in every inning but the third and ninth and 10 overall.
    Three of Towson's hits were homers, two of which came in a three-run eighth. The Tigers also scored three of their runs on sacrifice flies.
    John Koehnlein, David Leon, Jacke Healey and Casey Holland had two hits apiece for YSU, which lost all three games at Towson by a total of four runs and fell to 2-6. Holland hit his first career homer, and Leon and Healey both doubled.
    Penguins starter Matt Tucker allowed two runs on five hits in six innings and left with a 5-2 lead. The Tigers scored five runs off the YSU bullpen.
    The Penguins scored two runs in the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Anthony Porter and C.J. Morris to go up 2-0.
    After Towson got on the board on a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly in the third, YSU countered with three runs in the fourth. Jeremy Banks hit a one-out double and scored on Holland's homer to right. Eric Hymel followed with a double and scored two batters later on Leon's two-bagger.
    Towson got a leadoff homer in the fifth and two runs on sacrifice flies in the seventh to claw its way back. A solo homer off the top of the fence tied the score in the eighth, and a two-out, two run homer down the right field line by Kevin Collins was the game-winner.
    The Penguins will continue their spring break trip at 3 p.m. Monday against Longwood.