(Posted March 21, 2009)

MADISON, N.J. -- The Juniata College baseball team opened its Landmark Conference doubleheader against Drew University with a 20-1 win over the Rangers, but allowed Drew to come-from-behind to win game two, 5-4, Saturday in Drew's Doc Young Field.

Juniata (6-8, 2-3 Landmark) pounded out 13 runs on eight hits off Drew in the seventh inning of game one, to complete the rout. Kevin Small (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North), Greg Hoffman (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney), and Dane Ott (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) all finished the first game with three hits, all singles. Ott drove in four runs, while Hoffman had a pair of runs batted in.

Junior righthander Tyler Clifford (Homer City, Pa./Homer City) scattered four hits through six innings of work to pick up the win, allowing six walks against a pair of strikeouts.

The Eagles looked like they would complete the doubleheader sweep after building a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning in game two, however the Rangers answered with five runs in the seventh to steal the win.

Drew sophomore Andrew Baxter ended the game with a two-run, two-out walk-off double that scored Zach Birks and Michael Meador. Juniata had put two away in the seventh when starter Marty Hauck (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) allowed a walk, three singles, and another walk, before reliever Chad Kulik (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) gave up the double to Baxter. Hauck had pitched masterfully prior to the seventh, holding the Rangers to just four hits.

Juniata had put up single runs in the first and seventh innings, with a two-run sixth on back-to-back doubles by Small and Hoffman after a lead-off single by Matt Sullivan (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown).

Juniata and Drew (4-8, 2-3 Landmark) will complete the three-game series on Sunday, March 22, at 1:00 p.m.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.