The Ravens (7-22) lost an intense contest to the Knights of Neumann University (13-16) 5 to 4 in ten innings. The Knights took the lead early and were up 4-0 by the 5^th inning. The Ravens began their methodical comeback scraping across a run in the 5^th thanks to a Chase Masten RBI sacrifice fly that scored Chris Walton who reached by a hit by pitch. Later in the inning, junior Jamen Palladino belted an RBI double scoring sophomore Nicholas Skoufalos making the score 4-2. In the 7^th inning, the Ravens were able to scrape across another run slowly reeling in the Knights putting the score at 4-3 after 7 innings. The Ravens' scrappy comeback concluded in the 8th inning when junior Samson Gerner made a gutsy play to advance home in a drop third strike situation tying the game. Gerner said this about the play, "It was a risky heads-up play, but the catcher never looked my way. Thanks to David (McKinney) for running in the baseline forcing the catcher to take a few extra steps allowing me to slide around the tag to tie the game. Without that, I couldn't have scored."
Unfortunately, this run wouldn't be enough as the Knights would battle back to take the lead in the 10^th and keep it. It was a small ball game for the Ravens as the offense totaled 4 runs on 6 hits. Junior Nick Tanella led the offense going 2 for 4 on the day. Sophomores Chase Masten and Nicholas Skoufalos totaled a hit a piece with Masten notching an RBI as stated above. Graduate student Dominic Fernicola also added to the hit total going 1 for 5 on the day with an RBI.
On the mound for the Ravens, it was a platoon day, and it was quite effective as the staff collected 14 strikeouts. Opening for the Ravens was freshman Shane Lennon who allowed 1 run on 1 hit and notched 2 strikeouts in 1 inning of work. Following him out of the pen was junior Brett Angelillo who also tossed 1 inning allowing 1 run on no hits. Freshmen Nick Vitale tossed a solid 2 innings relieving Angelillo. He allowed 1 run on 2 hits and struck out 4. He was followed by junior Jimmy Rodier who tossed a strong inning of work allowing a lone run and notching a strikeout.
The top pitching performer for the Ravens was sophomore Patrick McCallister who tossed a game-high 5 strikeouts in 3 innings of work. McCallister also did not allow a run and only allowed a lone hit.
The Ravens take a much-needed day off from gameplay on Thursday to prepare for their next match-up on Friday, April 19^th when they take on conference opponent Valley Forge. This matchup will be the first of the 3 game conference series. The first pitch is set for 3:00 pm at Heuser Park.