Penn State New Kensington Falls to Illinois College, 11-7

Ft. MYERS, Fla. - The Penn State New Kensington baseball team fell to Illinois College on its second day at the Gene Cusic Classic. New Kensington drops to 1-2, while Illinois College improves to 3-2.

Junior Vinny Ribar (Apollo, Pa.) and sophomore Dylan Wiley (Murrysville, Pa.) started the game with back-to-back singles. An error by Illinois allowed Ribar to score the first run of the game. Jake Stackiewicz (Murrysville, Pa.) doubled to right field, putting runners on second and third. A sac fly by Noah Oddis(Lower Burrell) scored Dustin Koedel (Sarver, Pa.), and then a single by freshman Justin Lindeman (Murrysville, Pa.) brought home Stackiewicz. The Nittany Lions ended the first half inning up 3-0, but Illinois answered back in the bottom of the inning with three runs of its own.

Wiley started the third inning with his second base-hit of the game. Then, Stackiewicz struck another double to score Wiley, before being sent home himself on a single from Oddis. Illinois evened things up in the bottom of the inning and then took its first lead of the game with three runs in the fourth. Three Illinois errors allowed New Kensington to tack on a run in the sixth, but the home team responded with two more in the bottow of the inning to go up 10-6. In the seventh, Koedel doubled down the right field line and then was sent home by a single by Stackiewicz. Illinois scored a final run in the seventh to bring the score to 11-7.

Stackiewicz ended with four hits including two doubles and added a pair of runs-batted-in. Oddis also had two RBI on two hits. Stackiewicz struck out six batters in five innings of work, taking home the loss.