MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Sophomore Jake Mastillo (Roaring Brook Twp, Pa./North Pocono) crushed his fourth home run of the young season, and the Lock Haven University baseball team (1-2) opened up the bats to the tune of 17 hits en route to an 8-4 victory over No. 13 University of Mount Olive (2-1) on Sunday afternoon. 

This marks the Bald Eagles first ranked win since May 4, 2019 when they defeated No. 6 Millersville in the last game of the regular season by a 1-0 tally.

Mastillo gave the Bald Eagles the lead to start the game, driving in Gavin Troutman (Boyertown, Pa./Oley Valley) on an RBI groundout in the top of the first to put the Bald Eagles up by a 1-0 score after half an inning of play. In the second inning, Mastillo blasted a solo home run to right field to push LHU out to a 2-1 advantage. After a three-run, fourth inning for the Trojans allowed the hosts to retake the lead, the rest of Lock Haven's offense made their presence known.

With two outs in the fifth, Garrett Nepert (Preston, Md./Colonel Richardson (Chesapeake County CC)) delivered a momentum boost to tie the game at 4-4. Nepert's single up the middle drove in Mastillo and Joe Shannon (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent (Mercer CC)) to knot the game up at the midway point. Nick White (Halethorpe, Md./Lansdowne (CCBC Dundalk)) gave the Bald Eagles the lead back with a two-RBI single, scoring Nepert and Zach Kaatz (Stafford, Va./Mountain View). Troutman would increase the lead with an RBI single, scoring Gabe Stirr (Canadensis, Pa./Pocono Mtn. East), as the Bald Eagles led 7-4 after four-and-a-half innings of action.

Kaatz drove in another run for LHU in the top of the sixth to bolster its lead, pushing in Blaise Zeiders (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) who set-up the scoring opportunity with a double.

Lock Haven used a trio of pitchers, Aedan Walter (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley), Kevin Worek (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Abington), and Matt Lingenfelter (State College, Pa./State College) to shut down the nationally-ranked Trojans. LHU's trio surrendered just six hits, of which only one came after the fifth inning.


Ultimately, Worek earned the win and earned two strikeouts in the effort. Lingenfelter earned three strikeouts of his own and scattered just one hit in his four innings pitched.
In the win, White, Nepert and Mastillo earned two RBI's a piece. Troutman and Kaatz knocked home the team's other two scores. Zeiders led the team in hits with four on five at-bats and scored on one of those trips to the bases.
The Bald Eagles wrap up the series against the Trojans, out hitting them in every single game. Mastillo led the team with four home runs, eight RBIs, and five runs scored. Seven starters would start the season on a hot streak, batting at least a .333 average. LHU collected 41 hits, including 12 extra-base hits, while only allowing 24 hits to the nationally ranked Trojans.

Today's (Sunday, Feb. 6) action wrapped up Lock Haven's three-game season-opening weekend at nationally-ranked Mount Olive. The two teams opened the series yesterday with a doubleheader and the hosts won both games. No. 13 Mount Olive won game one, 10-7 and completed the sweep with a 14-7 victory in game two. In game one, Lock Haven scored seven runs on 12 hits and in game two, LHU plated seven runs on 12 hits. Full box scores and stats from the Bald Eagles' first weekend of play in 2022 are available at GoLHU.com.

UP NEXT FOR LHU:
The Bald Eagles will travel to Virginia for a four-game series at Virginia State on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 12-13. Start time for game one will be 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday next weekend.