Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – A late rally came up just short as the Gettysburg College baseball team dropped its season finale on Wednesday, falling 5-4 to Susquehanna University in a non-conference tilt at Kirchhoff Field.

The Bullets, who left the tying run on base in the ninth, close out the season at 12-23 while Susquehanna improved to 13-22.

Senior second baseman Chris Simard finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and closed out his career ranked ninth in school history in hits (148) and third in runs (110). He also had one assist to finish second all-time at Gettysburg with 327, just two behind the school record held by Austin Ball '05.

Seniors Matt Karis and Cory Jackmuff each finished 2-for-3 at the plate for the Bullets while freshman Chris Yoda, making his second collegiate appearance, struck out seven over the final 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks.

Matt Lottes (2-4) earned the win for Susquehanna, yielding two runs on seven hits and three walks while fanning six over seven innings. Ethan Rieker went 3-for-4 with a double for the Crusaders while Ken Kayama was 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Greg Uhlak drove in the visitors' first three runs of the game.

Trailing 5-2 entering the ninth, the Bullets loaded the bases with no outs, as junior Clint O'Brien was hit with a pitch leading off before freshman pinch hitter Zach Parsons blooped a single to right and Jackmuff singled hard to center. However, reliever Matt Boyd induced a 1-2-3 double play, and after Simard drilled a two-run single into the right-center gap, Boyd got a game-ending groundout to earn his first save of the year.

The Bullets took a 1-0 lead in the first when Simard walked and scored two batters later on a Karis single to center. Sophomore starter John Donovan worked out of trouble in each of the first two innings for Gettysburg, leaving runners on second and third in the first before escaping a one-out bases-loaded jam in the second. However, when the Crusaders loaded the bases with one out in the third, sophomore Will Patterson was summoned out of the bullpen. After Uhlak tied it with a hard-hit sacrifice fly to left, Patterson got a flyout to end the inning.

Gettysburg went up 2-1 in the fourth, when freshman Tommy LeNoir led off with a single, stole second, and moved to third on a groundout. Jackmuff later drew a two-out walk, then intentionally was caught between first and second on a steal attempt, allowing LeNoir to score before the out was recorded.

Susquehanna went ahead to stay after a two-run fifth made it 3-2. With the bases loaded, Uhlak launched a pitch off the left-center fence to drive in two runs, but he was limited to a single as his lead runner stopped at second. The base-running mistake proved costly, as Yoda came on to immediately get a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Yoda, who had thrown just one inning on the season coming into the game, went on to blank the Crusaders from the sixth through the eighth, allowing just a pair of singles and a walk. But he ran into trouble in the ninth, when Susquehanna put runners on first and second following a single and a walk before pinch hitter Alex Jennings lined an RBI-double that landed just fair inside the rightfield line. Another run crossed the plate on a wild pitch but Yoda left runners at second and third when another pinch hitter, Corey Stirmer, struck out looking.

Donovan finished with a line of four hits and five walks to go with one strikeout over 2 1/3 innings while Patterson (0-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks in two innings of work.

LeNoir finished the season on an eight-game hitting streak while freshman Nate Simon hit safely in his final six games.