HAMPTON, Va. – Junior Dan Sepic (York, Pa./Central York) drove in a pair of runs to give the Crimson Hawks an early lead, but a late in rally by the Apprentice School gave IUP baseball an 8-4 loss on Saturday afternoon at the 2017 Builder Invitational.
 
Sepic finished his day 2-for-4 with a double and triple, knocking in his RBI's in the first and third innings. Junior Wes Carson (Woodstock, Md./Marriots Ridge) then drove Sepic in with a sacrifice fly to give IUP an early 3-0 lead through three.
 
The Crimson Hawks (1-3) took a 4-0 lead in the fifth with an RBI single from junior Cory Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler), bringing in freshman Joshua Beale (Freeport, Pa./Freeport Area).
 
Sophomore righty Colin Claus (Oakdale, Pa./West Allegheny) took a shutout into the sixth, but the Apprentice offense took off with five runs to grab a one run lead. Claus lasted 5.1 innings, striking out six batters while giving up three earned runs on seven hits and two walks.
 
Apprentice (8-2) also got to the IUP bullpen, scoring three more runs in the eighth inning to take an 8-4 lead before securing the four-run victory.
 
Up next
As the fifth seed in the tournament, IUP will play fourth seed Apprentice again on Sunday morning. First pitch is currently scheduled for 10 a.m.
 
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