Behrend Lions Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Medaille

The Penn State Behrend baseball team split a doubleheader with the visiting Medaille Mavericks on Wednesday, April 21 at the Behrend baseball field.  Behrend baseball is now 20-12 overall and 10-4 in AMCC play, while Medaille moves to 14-11 and 8-6. 

Medaille jumped out early in game one putting up five runs in the top of the first inning, to grab a big cushion for Mavericks starting pitcher Nick Miano.  In the bottom of the first Ryan Liddle (DuBois/DuBois) singled and was later driven in by Josh Fyffe's (Fredonia/Sharpsville) sacrifice fly to make it a 5-1 ballgame.  In the second inning the Mavericks got the first two runners aboard and eventually added a run on a 2-out infield single by Medaille slugger Brandon Lumadue.    

In the bottom of the fifth, Behrend got runners to the corners with one out when Fyffe singled to right driving in Jon Gray (State College/State College) to cut the Medaille lead to 6-2.  That was the last run that Behrend was able to score, meanwhile Medaille punched two more across in the top of the seventh and earned the game one win by a score of 8-2.

In game two, Medaille again struck early getting a first inning triple from Nick Kanutsu who was driven in by an infield single as Medaille took a quick 1-0 lead.  Behrend also got on the board in the first inning as Fyffe's single scored Liddle to knot it up at 1-1.  The Behrend Lions were not finished, as Dustin Dubensky (Punxsutawney/Punxsutawney) drove a deep fly to right field which was mishandled, scoring two more runners to put Behrend up 3-1, while Dubensky ended up on third base.  Ryan Geibel (East Butler/Butler) then singled in Dubensky as Behrend took a 4-1 lead.  Behrend would score once more in the inning and head to the second up 5-1.

In the top of the third Medaille's Kanutsu homered down the rightfield line to pull the Mavericks within three, and Medaille added another run to make it 5-3.  In the bottom of the third, Behrend's Kyle Kline (Clearfield/Clearfield) blasted a double to centerfield, driving in Geibel and putting Behrend back up by three runs at 6-3 heading into the fourth.  In the bottom of the fourth, Dubensky smashed a triple to drive in Liddle and Fyffe as the blue and white took a five-run lead.  The Behrend Lions stretched it to an 9-3 when Dubensky scored on a sacrifice fly. 

Medaille put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fifth but Ryan Zamiskie (Jeanette/Penn Trafford) got a strikeout and a groundout to get out of the jam holding the six-run advantage.  Medaille would score twice more, as Behrend would push one more run across and take game two 10-5.   

Behrend next continues its homestand with an AMCC doubleheader on Saturday, April 24 by hosting Franciscan.  Game one is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.