Lions Drop 6-3 Decision to Mt. Union

ALLIANCE, Oh. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team dropped a 6-3 decision to Mt. Union on Sunday afternoon.

The Purple Raiders (15-9) struck first in the bottom of the second on Ben Atkinson's RBI triple.

The Lions (12-9) responded with a three-spot in the top of the fourth.

With two outs, Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) singled home Ryan Finnegan, who reached base with a walk. After a John Hlavinka (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) single, Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch) reached base on an error, scoring Margraf. Eric Wehler (St. Mary's, PA/Elk County Catholic) also got aboard via an error, scoring Hlavinka in the process.

It remained a 3-1 Behrend lead until the bottom of the fifth. Scott Sherwood singled in C.J. Stotler to bring Mt. Union within one. Mitchell Lake then scored the tying run when Justin Jakubik grounded into a bases-loaded double play.

In the following inning, Jeff Bennett hit a two-run homer to left, giving the Purple Raiders the lead for good. Later in the sixth, Ben Atkinson scored the game's final run on Mitchell Lake's bunt.

With two outs and nobody on in the eighth, the Lions rallied to bring the tying run to the plate thanks to singles from Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) and Margraf. But Kyle Toma got Hlavinka to fly out, ending the threat.

Jack Herzing (St. Mary's, PA/Elk County Catholic) took the loss for Behrend, allowing three earned runs while striking out three in 4.0 innings of work. Margraf finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Jordan Weinzierl (St. Mary's, PA/St. Mary's) went 1-for-3 with a double.

Tyler Geer (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) did not allow a run and struck out three in 2.1 innings of relief work for the Lions.

Behrend will host Thiel on Monday, April 14 at 3 p.m.