FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Neumann University Baseball team, after suffering two one-run losses to open the season, shutout Penn State- Abington, 4-0, in the finale of the Diamond Invitational, hosted by Methodist University on Sunday afternoon.
 
The game started off as a pitchers' duel as neither team was able to break through over the first four innings. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Owen Friddell lifted a single into center field. Matt Mason followed with his own base hit and Nick Glebocki reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases. Brandon Colon drove in the game's first run on an RBI grounder to second, scoring Friddell for a 1-0 lead.
 
The Knights added on in the bottom of the sixth as Zion Spearman led off with a single up the middle and immediately stole second. After a fly out, he then moving up another 90 feet with another theft. AJ Nardo followed with a bad hop infield hit, driving in Spearman for a two-run advantage.
 
With one out in the seventh, B. Colon reached on a single to right field. Two batters later, he stole second and scored on an RBI single to the left-center gap by Spearman. Following a Spearman steal of second, Thomas Elgrim hit a grounder to short that snuck through on an error, plating Spearman for a 4-0 lead.
 
Penn State Abington threatened in each of the last two innings but couldn't score. In the top of the eighth, they had runners on first and second with two away, but reliever Jack Valentine got a huge swinging strikeout. In the ninth, they had two runners in scoring position when Cam Leighton closed the game with a strikeout.
 
Spearman led the offense with a 3 for 4 performance with a double, a run batted in, three stolen bases, and two runs scored. Nardo also went 3 for 4 with an RBI. Fridell finished 2 for 4 with a run scored. Josh Lillis combined with Valentine and Leighton for the shutout. Lillis went six innings for the win to improve to 1-0. He allowed three hits and four walks but struck out 12. Valentine went two innings with 3 strikeouts while Leighton fanned two in an inning of work.
 
Neumann (1-2) returns to action on Monday, March 4^th for their Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., when they take on Bridgewater State University. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 AM.