Baseball Extends Win Streak to Eight

BRADFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team defeated Pitt-Bradford 8-3 and 5-4 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Sunday afternoon.

With the doubleheader sweep, the Lions (15-5, 6-0 AMCC) have now won eight straight games.

Behrend jumped out to an early lead in the opening game, scoring all eight runs in the first four innings.  Corey Bowers (Westlake, OH/Westlake) capped the scoring in the first inning with an RBI double after Vinny Rice (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) drove in the second run.

In the third, Bowers was at it again, this time ripping an RBI single to left center.  Two of the Lions' three runs in the inning were scored off wild pitches.  Rice continued to swing a hot bat in the fourth.  Following a Matt Bittner (Lancaster, NY/St. Mary's) RBI single, Rice smashed a double to left field to bring Bittner home all the way from first.

Ryan Jacobs (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny) did not need much support on the mound.  The senior pitcher threw six innings, striking out six and allowing just two unearned runs.  Jacobs improved to 2-0 on the week and now leads Behrend with four victories.

The second game of the doubleheader was a lot closer than game one, with the Lions rallying for their sixth conference win of the year.

With the score 3-1 in favor of Behrend, the Panthers were threatening with bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth.  With two outs, Johnny Phelps cleared the bases with a double to the fence.  Now with just six outs remaining on offense, the Lions found themselves trailing for the first time all day.

Behrend did not back down though and answered with a single run in the sixth.  The Lions were able to load the bases for Jordan Weinzierl (St. Marys, PA/St. Marys) who drove in Bittner to tie the game at 4-4.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Pitt-Bradford put runners on first and second but Chad Zurat (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) shut the door with a strikeout to end the inning.  Once again in the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers had a shot to get the walk-off win.  With the winning run just 90 feet away, Zurat sat down two straight hitters to end the inning.

With the score still knotted at 4-all, Rice and Bowers clutched up for Behrend.  After two quick outs, Rice kept the offense going with a single down the left field line.  Bowers was next to hit and crushed a double to left center.  Rice, who was going on contact, beat the throw to the plate to put the Lions up 5-4.  Zurat continued to dominate on the mound with three strikeouts to seal the exciting win for Behrend.

Zurat earned his second victory of the season with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief and six strikeouts.  Dante DeSantis (DuBois, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) took the no-decision despite a season-high nine strikeouts.

Bowers excelled at the dish, going 3-for-6 with one run and three RBIs.  Rice, Bittner, Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) and Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) all had three hits for the Lions on the day.

Behrend will be back on the diamond tomorrow at Thiel.  First pitch of the non-conference game is set for 2 p.m.