The baseball program at Shawnee State got two early home runs from Jacob Kline and Howie Rodriguez en route to taking an early 4-1 lead after three innings of play, but failed to hold that lead as Georgetown (Ky.) took the point for good with five unanswered runs between the fourth and fifth frames en route to handing SSU a 9-5 defeat Friday afternoon at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.
Shawnee State, who continued its strong offensive production early on, struck immediately in the top of the opening frame. Following a hit batter that put George Duran on base, Danny McGuire's single paved the way for Kline to belt a no-doubt, three-run home run over the left field fence, giving the junior his 12th home run of the year and 52 RBI to go along with it.
The Bears, up by a 3-1 margin later following a second-inning home run by Georgetown's Shota Usuda, extended its lead back out to three runs for a second time as Howie Rodriguez matched Usuda's efforts with a solo home run to dead center, putting Shawnee State ahead of Georgetown, 4-1, after three innings of work.
Unfortunately, following that point, untimely errors bit the Bears in the worst of moments. After a fourth-inning home run by Val Stammler cut SSU's lead to a 4-2 gap after four complete, Shawnee State gave up four unearned Georgetown runs off of errors as the Tigers took a 6-4 lead after five innings of play.
Shawnee State rallied by loading the bases the very next inning, as a walk by Kyle Boggs was followed by singles from Damion Coleman and Javier Santiago to load the bases.
However, when relief pitcher Keon Taylor came in, the Bears struggled to time up the submarine pitcher's effective deliveries, only mustering a run in the sixth off of a wild pitch and being held quiet from then on as Taylor struck out five batters and allowed only two hits in three-and-two-thirds innings in the 9-5 setback.
In the loss, Shawnee State was led by Kline's 2-for-5 day with the first-inning homer and the three RBI and a run scored to go along with it. McGuire also went 2-for-5 with a run scored while Coleman went 2-for-4 to round out the multi-hit performers offensively.
On the bump, Kyle Wisniewski pitched seven solid innings, with Georgetown only earning three runs off of the Shawnee State ace pitcher out of the seven the Bears actually scored during the Strongsville, Ohio native's time in the game. Wisniewski gave up six hits and struck out four batters in the contest.
Shawnee State (18-18, 7-11 Mid-South) will be back in action tomorrow at 12 p.m. when the Bears face Georgetown in a doubleheader.
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