Box Score
MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Andy Schleihauf homered and drove in six runs while relief pitcher Frank Brank tossed five scoreless innings to lead the Allegheny baseball team over Pitt-Bradford, 16-5, in non-conference action at the Robertson Complex on Thursday.
Schleihauf, who finished 2-for-2, collected his RBIs on a sacrifice fly, a three-run homer and a two-run single. Brank (2-0) entered the game in the third inning, allowed two hits and struck out three batters.
The Panthers (12-16) scored their first two runs without a hit, plating one on an error in the first inning and the other on a groundout by Nick Foster in the second. Allegheny answered both scores with three and two runs in the first and second, respectively.
At the start, Allegheny (16-8) came out swinging. Eric Hansen and Aaron Lynch ripped back-to-back singles before Ben Lowmaster plated Hansen with his team-leading 11th double of the season. Lynch scored on a Schleihauf flyout and Lowmaster scored when a Jeff Dassner groundout was misplayed by an error.
After UPB cut its deficit the 3-2, the Gators tacked on two more scores -- one via error and the second on an RBI single by Lowmaster.
In the third, the Panthers pushed across two sacrifice flies by Bart McGary and Justin Bifano, trimming their deficit to 5-4, but Allegheny came right back with back-to-back five-run innings to take a 15-4 lead through five.
Schleihauf's three-run bomb over the left-field fence keyed the Gators' five-run fourth. Anthony Wilbur started the inning with a hit-by-pitch and then Hansen reached base with a single. A potential double-play ball off the bat of Lowmaster was mishandled by the Bradford defense, allowing Wilbur to score. Schleihauf followed with his dinger. The Gators added the inning's final run on a double-steal rundown.
The first three batters in Allegheny's fifth reached base -- Fago was hit with a pitch and Wilbur and Hansen singled -- to set up the second five-run frame. Two Gator runs scored on errors, Schleihauf ripped his two-run single and Matt Stahl had an RBI single.
Allegheny scored its final run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Frank Triozzi. Tyler Bizzak pulled UPB within 11 runs with a sac fly of his own in the eighth.
Hansen finished with a 3-for-4 day, including four runs, for the Gators. Lowmaster was 2-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs. Wilbur scored three times while Lynch and Jeff Dassner scored twice.
Phil Morrissette started on the mound for Allegheny and worked two innings. He allowed four runs -- only two earned -- on one hit while compiling two strikeouts and three walks. James Fago worked a scoreless ninth.
Cory Hochschild (3-4) suffered the loss for Bradford. Of the 15 runs scored against him, only 10 were earned. He allowed 11 hits, one walk and four hit batsmen.
The Gators will return to action this weekend with a North Coast Athletic Conference series. They will visit Kenyon on Saturday and Sunday.