ERIE, Pa. –
Ryan Uhl (St. Marys, Pa./St. Marys) ran his home run total to 29 this season with three long balls in IUP's conference baseball doubleheader losses at Gannon on Friday afternoon in Erie.
Uhl finished the day 4-for-7 with those three home runs, six runs batted in, and four runs scored, but it wasn't enough as the Crimson Hawks lost by scores of 10-4 and 10-8 to the Golden Knights.
The senior first baseman's 29 home runs have come in 42 games as he's averaging a homer every 4.72 at-bats. Uhl boasts a .416 batting average and is slugging 1.109 with 74 runs batted in and has scored 52 runs with a .534 on-base percentage.
Uhl's first home run of the day came in the fifth inning of the opening game. His solo shot came with Gannon already holding a 7-3 lead. The Golden Knights added insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning and held on for the 10-4 victory.
The Crimson Hawks had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on the strength of four doubles in the first inning alone, but had just two hits the rest of the way in the loss.
Zach Chinchilla (Ambridge, Pa./Quigley Catholic) took just his second loss of the year (4-2), giving up seven earned runs in three innings, striking out five allowing seven hits and two walks.
Uhl's next home run came in the third inning of game two, driving home both
Mike Lupia (Middletown/Middletown) and
Cory Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler) to give the Crimson Hawks a 4-2 lead.
The Golden Knights then answered back with seven in the fourth inning alone, forcing IUP to pull starter
Dan Sepic (York, Pa./Central York), who took the loss (2-2).
Austin Mock (State College, Pa./State College) blasted his 13th home run of the season in the fifth to narrow the gap to 9-5, but Gannon tacked on another run in the sixth to again make it a five-run advantage.
IUP put the rally caps on in the seventh, as Mock drove home another run with a single to center to make it 10-6 before Uhl smashed his third homer of the day, a two-run shot that made it a 10-8 ballgame with one out. The Crimson Hawks couldn't muster much offense after that, as the Golden Knights closed out the Friday sweep.
The Crimson Hawks fall to 20-21-1 on the season and 11-14-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division. They are still alive for the final conference tournament berth in the division, as Clarion swept California (Pa.) earlier today. IUP will head into the final day of its regular season needing two wins and hoping that Cal (13-13 in PSAC West) drops each of its road games to the Golden Eagles.
First pitch between the Crimson Hawks and Gannon on Senior Day is set for 1 p.m. at Dougherty Field.
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.
