NATCHITOCHES, La. - Following an extra-innings shortcoming to open the season yesterday, Penn (1-2) rallied on day two to split a doubleheader with Northwestern State (4-3), picking up its first win of the year. Game one of the twin bill went entirely in favor of the Demons, 8-2, but the Penn offense surfaced in the final matchup of the series as the Quakers secured an 8-5 victory. Senior pitcher Jack Hartman put together a stellar performance in the second game, throwing seven innings with three strikeouts to hold off the Demons before junior reliever Grant Guillory secured the win in the final two frames.

Game One - Northwestern State 8, Penn 2
WP: Ridge Heisler (2-0)
LP: Christian Scafidi (0-1)
SV: None

Game Two - Penn 8, Northwestern State 5
WP: Jack Hartman (1-0)
LP: Reed Michel (0-1)
SV: None

HOW IT HAPPENED
GAME ONE
After a pitchers' duel silenced both sets of bats most of Friday night, Northwestern State used a host of offensive surges throughout Saturday's first game to outpace the Quakers. Sophomore starter Christian Scafidi took the mound for the Red and Blue, allowing seven runs on eight hits through his six and two-thirds innings. Freshman Brendan Bean closed out the final inning and a third, giving up one run on four hits. 

The Demons' scoring opportunities came early, as they notched two runs in the first inning behind a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly. The Penn offense came alive in the second behind the efforts of 3B Matt McGeagh, as the junior jacked the Quakers' first home run of the season over the left-field fence, tying the score at 2-2. From that point on, though, the Northwestern State batting order chipped away at Scafidi, retaking the lead with a run in the third before expanding on it with another in the fourth, three in the seven and an insurance score to close out the eighth.

Demons' ace Ridge Heisler, still undefeated after a win early this year over Binghamton, struck out seven in as many innings and allowed just five hits during that stretch.

GAME TWO
Penn flipped the offensive script in the second game, pumping out strong at-bats late to lock up an 8-5 victory for its first win of the season. In a soft preview of what's to come, junior Chris Adams drove in Matt Tola midway through the fifth inning to give the Quakers their first lead of the series. The Demons knotted the score 1-1 in the same inning, but the Penn offense responded with a brilliant sixth, upending the Northwestern pitching staff for five runs as they worked through the entire batting order in a single frame.

The festivities began when McGeagh pushed fellow junior Matt O'Neill across the plate with a double, allowing freshman Christian Walton to drive the third baseman home one at-bat later. A few singles and a walk later, senior Andrew Murnane put down a infield sacrifice to score another run. The offensive explosion wrapped up with 1B Sean Phelan. as the junior drilled a single into the left center gap to grant both Bean and Tola to access to home plate.

The seventh and eighth each featured a run for the Quakers as well, with Bean driving in McGeagh during the former and O'Neill plating Murnane in the latter. Northwestern State fought back, scoring a combined four runs from the seventh to the ninth innings, before Guillory sealed the victory.

NEXT UP
The Quakers turn their attention to next weekend's three-game road trip at Wofford, the first of three series Penn is scheduled across the state of South Carolina during the University's spring break. Furman hosts the Quakers in back-to-back midweek matchups before the Red and Blue travel to USC Upstate to conclude the campaign with another trio of games.