HOUGHTON, NY—The Houghton Highlanders rode a pair of strong starting pitching performances to take two from Penn State-Dubois.  The wins stretch the Highlanders win streak to four straight games, improving their overall record to 5-7.  The Nittany Lions fall to 0-2 on the year.
 
Game 1:
Houghton jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after scoring in each of the first three innings.  The Highlanders scored four in the second thanks to doubles by Garret Kirkpatrick (York, PA, Central York) and Garret Kirkpatrick (York, PA, Central York), and a RBI single by Joseph Gilligan (Ringwood, NJ, Lakeland Regional)
 
The Lions fought back, shutting down the Highlander offense for the remainder of the game and plating two in the fourth off Houghton starter Victor Cavalieri (Rochester, NY, Northstar Christian).
 
In the sixth the Lions plated a third run on a pair of doubles by Zac Walsh and Anthony Caru, and plated a fourth run in the seventh but could not find the final two runs to tie the game.
 
Cavalieri picked up his first win of the season, pitching 5.1 innings, striking out five while walking only one batter.
 
Ned Monthie (Albany, NY, Christian Brothers Academy) collected the save with two strikeouts over 1.2 innings.
 
Offensively, Welch and Kirkpatrick each went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles.  Welch also added three RBI.
 
For the Nittany Lions Walsh collected two doubles and leadoff hitter Shelton Grac added a pair of hits.
 
Game 2:
The Highlanders grabbed the lead in the second after Kirkpatrick singled down the right field line and Jens Omdal (Olympia, WA, River Ridge) crushed a triple to right-center.
 
In the third the Highlanders struck again.  Michael Knapp (Brockport, NY, Brockport) led off with a double to left and Tage Johnson (Jamestown, NY, Frewsburg) drove him home with a hard-hit single to left. 
 
Walks and an errant pitch plated two more runs to provide all the offense Houghton would need.
 
Freshman starter Garrett Alread (Victor, NY, Victor) and sophomore John Kopicky (Centerville, OH, Centerville) would take care of the rest on the mound, with a little help from some outstanding glovework from their defense.
 
Alread went five to pick up his first collegiate win, striking out four while walking only one and allowing only four hits.
 
Kopicky picked up the save, striking out three over the final two frames without allowing a hit.
 
Johnson led the Highlander offense with two hits, his third multi-hit game of the season.
 
Walsh and Caru each added a double apiece for Penn State-Dubois.