Cieless Walk-Off Lifts Lions in Myrtle Beach Opener

Penn State Schuylkill baseball opened its Spring Break trip at The Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach in dramatic fashion Saturday evening, rallying late to defeat Penn State Beaver 6–5 on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Beaver struck first in the opening inning on a sacrifice fly from Benjamin Ogle, but the Lions quickly responded. In the second inning, Yostin Guerrero Solano lined a single to center to score Alex Fantaskey before Owen Shoop followed with an RBI single to give Schuylkill a 2–1 lead.

The Lions continued to build momentum in the third. Andrew Klotz scored on a Conner Licklider double to center before Joey Ruggiero brought Licklider home with a groundout to push the advantage to 4–1.

Penn State Beaver battled back midway through the game, scoring twice in the fourth and adding single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a narrow 5–4 lead.

Schuylkill answered in the fifth when Licklider crossed the plate on a passed ball to even the score at 5–5, setting up a tense final inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Klotz reached and came around to score when Cieless delivered a clutch single to right field, sealing the 6–5 walk-off victory for the Lions to open their Myrtle Beach schedule.

At the plate, Schuylkill totaled nine hits, led by Klotz and Licklider with two hits each. Dan Zimmerman also added two hits, while Guerrero Solano, Shoop, and Cieless each recorded RBIs.

On the mound, the Lions pitching staff combined for 13 strikeouts, highlighted by Owen Shoop's seven strikeouts over three innings of work. Aidan Barner earned the win in relief, striking out two in a scoreless seventh inning.

Penn State Schuylkill – Game Leaders & Key Stats:

Offense

Andrew Klotz: 2-for-4, 2 runs scored, double

Conner Licklider: 2-for-4, 2 runs scored, RBI, double, stolen base

Roman Cieless: 1-for-4, walk-off RBI single in the 7th

Dan Zimmerman: 2-for-3 at the plate

Yostin Guerrero Solano: 1-for-3, RBI, run scored, stolen base

Owen Shoop: 1-for-3 with an RBI

Joey Ruggiero: RBI groundout

Team Offense

9 hits

6 runs

5 RBIs

2 doubles (Klotz, Licklider)

2 stolen bases

Pitching

Michael Kohler: 3.0 IP, 0 hits allowed, 1 run (0 ER), 3 BB, 4 K

Owen Shoop: 3.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs (3 ER), 7 strikeouts

Aidan Barner: 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 2 strikeouts — Win

Team Pitching

13 total strikeouts

3 runs allowed earned

Penn State Schuylkill will continue play in Myrtle Beach on Sunday with two games scheduled against New River Community College and Penn State DuBois.