Mountain Hawks Fall to Northeastern to Open Play in Florida

Saturday, March 11

Punta Gorda, Fl - South County Regional Park

2 p.m.

Lehigh University

2-6

Northeastern University

6-7

Lehigh

Northeastern

Mountain Hawks Fall to Northeastern to Open Play in Florida

3/11/2017 8:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – The Mountain Hawks dropped the opening game of their four-game stint at the Snowbird Baseball Classic with a 12-6 loss to Northeastern on Saturday afternoon at South County Regional Park.

Lehigh (2-6) struggled to get much going offensively until the ninth inning when substitute left fielder Ryan Malloy hit a grand slam in the final inning. Malloy's contribution cut the deficit to 12-6 as his four RBI were the final runs of the ball game. The sophomore entered in the seventh inning and finished 1-for-2 with one of the team's two extra-base hits and four of the team's five RBI on the day.

The Huskies (6-7) held a Lehigh offense in check throughout the day and below its season averages of 8.00 runs and 4.57 extra-base hits per game. Northeastern starter Brian Christian was a big contributor to Lehigh's lack of success at the plate as the right-hander went 7.0 innings and gave up just one run on four hits and struck out 10 Lehigh batters. The one run and three of the four hits surrendered by Christian came in the fourth inning when the Mountain Hawks loaded the bases with three-straight singles before John Scarr hit into a 3-6-1 double play to allow Jacen Nalesnik to advance home on the play.

Malloy's grand slam is the first for Lehigh this season as the Mountain Hawks have now hit a home run in six of eight games this season, including the last four games, to bring their season total to 11. LU has scored six or more runs in four games this season and posted nine or more hits five games. Lehigh has hit multiple extra-base hits in all but two games this season.

The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Sunday and will continue play at the Snowbird Classic with a doubleheader against Iowa beginning at 1:30 p.m. The games will again be played at South County Regional Park in Punta Gorda. Live stats will be available for both games on Sunday.

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