Janiszewski Cool Under Pressure as LHU Splits With Cal U

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Senior closer Kenny Janiszewski (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) cooled off a hot situation, giving the Lock Haven University baseball team (8-14, 3-7 PSAC West) a split with California University (Pa.) (23-10, 9-1 PSAC West) 5-1 and 1-0 today (April 15) at Foundation Field. Janiszewski fanned two batters with the bases loaded and a 1-0 lead, bailing the Bald Eagles out of a jam and ending the Vulcans’s 16-game winning streak.

Seven innings couldn’t hold game one, as each pitcher allowed just one run through regulation. The Vulcans plated their first run in the third on a fluke play, bringing a run in from third when another baserunner was caught in a rundown.

The Bald Eagles waited until the fifth to get their run, as junior Kurt Elbin (Bedford, Pa./Delgado C.C.) plated his twin brother Kyle Elbin (Bedford, Pa./Delgado C.C.) on a single down the left field line.

Things fell apart for the LHU defense in the top of the eighth. Three errors surrounded by four Vulcan hits gave Cal U a 5-1 lead.

LHU starter Bryan Stamm (Mifflinburg, Pa./Temple University) hurled eight innings, allowing just four earned runs and striking out three, dropping to 1-3. Cal U starter Ian Heisel (4-3) struck out 13 Bald Eagles over his eight innings.

Game two was as close as they come, an infield single making the difference.

LHU got their run in their first at-bats, as senior shortstop Brett Kelley (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport) topped a ball down the third base line in a first-and-third situation. Kurt Elbin set the table with a leadoff single and he would finish the game 3-for-3 with a run scored.

The Vulcans nearly knotted the game in the second. With a man on second and two out, there was a single to left. Junior Aaron Neideigh (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) picked up the ball and fired the potential tying run out at home.

Cal U’s next great chance came in the sixth, when Janiszewski entered with the bases loaded and one out, not allowing either batter to put the ball in play.

Things looked daunting again in the final inning, as a walk and an error gave the Vulcans first-and-second with one out. Janiszewski got another strikeout before the Vulcans’s leading RBI man, Mike Larson blasted a ball to the wall in right that Kyle Elbin hauled in for the win.

Sophomore Jason A. Brindle (James Creek, Pa./Huntingdon Area) went five innings of shutout ball for the win, improving to 2-3, while Cal U starter Chris Doerschner (5-2) threw all six innings in the loss.