PSU Baseball Pulls Off Comeback Against Castleton State, 7-6

PLYMOUTH – On Friday, April 29 the Plymouth State University Panthers baseball team played in a non-conference matchup against the Spartans of Castleton State at Panther Park. The Panthers were coming off of a thrilling high-scoring 13-12 victory that was won in the bottom of the ninth inning against Salem State the previous day, snapping their eight game skid. PSU checked into the game with a 6-23 season record, while Castleton entered with a .500 mark at 17-17 on the season. The Spartans were the first to draw blood as senior Chad Phillips hammered a two-run homer in the opening inning. The Panthers cut the lead in half in the home half of the second after sophomore Steve Campo scored on a sacrifice fly by classmate Dylan Mullin. Castleton followed up by scoring a run in the fourth inning, and tacked on three more in the fifth to increase the game to a 6-1 Castleton advantage. In the fifth, two were scored on a pass ball, and one on an RBI single by freshman Eric Anderson.With the Panthers looking at the losing end of an intimidating 6-1 score going into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Panthers rallied to score three runs and shorten the Spartans’ lead to 6-4. PSU senior Vinny Smith and sophomore Nick Jaskolka each registered singles, then were both driven in by a Joe Annese (sophomore) double. Annese then came home on a Mullin RBI single. Three innings later, PSU yet again used their rally caps to score three more runs and take a one run lead at 7-6. PSU senior Matt Gabellieri started the inning off by reaching base on an error, who was then followed by a double by Thursday’s hero C.J. Rousseau (junior), then Smith and Campo tied the game by smacking consecutive run scoring singles. Jaskola then claimed the 7-6 Panther lead by delivering an RBI double, which soon was set as a 7-6 Panther victory. Freshman Chip Hale picked up the win in relief after completing two scoreless innings to improve to a personal record of 2-3. Smith and Jaskolka lead the way offensively with three hits apiece. The victory marked PSU’s second straight win, and an improvement to a record of now 7-23, while Castleton State dropped below .500 to 17-18 overall.The Panthers will play two home doubleheaders this Spring Fling weekend with a pair of games on Saturday, May 7 against Rhode Island College beginning at noon, and a makeup doubleheader on Sunday, May 8 starting at noon. Come out and support the last games of the Panther season.