Ninth Inning Rally Propels Lions to AMCC Tournament Victory

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team scored eight runs in the final three innings – including three in the bottom of the ninth – to stun Mt. Aloysius 9-8 in the Lions opening game of the 2014 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament.

The victory keeps Behrend out of tomorrow morning's elimination game.

After two and a half scoreless frames, the Lions struck in the bottom of the third. Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) led off with a single and then stole second. John Hlavinka's (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) sacrifice advanced Bohman to third, and the freshman then came home on a passed ball.

The Mounties responded with a three-spot in the top of the fourth. Dylan Oswalt hit a bases-loaded RBI single to right that tied the game. With the bases still full, Ian Helsel was hit by a pitch plating another run to give Mt. Aloysius a 2-1 lead. Bryn Brown followed with an RBI single, making the score 3-1 Mounties after three and-a-half.

One inning later, Mt. Aloysius pushed the lead to 4-1 on Jesse Bortner's two-out RBI single to left. The Mounties added two more in the seventh on a pair of unearned runs to make the score 6-1.

Behrend (28-12) responded with a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning. First, Hlavinka singled. After a Jordan Weinzierl (St. Mary's, PA/St. Mary's) walk, Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) came through with an RBI single to make it a 6-2 ballgame. Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch) walked, and Ryan Finnegan (Fombell, PA/Riverside) then drilled a two-run single to bring the Lions within two at 6-4.

In the eighth, Behrend tied the contest. With runners on the corners and one down, Matt Wolczko (Apollo, PA/Kiski) scored on Weinzierl's RBI groundout. Margraf then ripped a single to right-center, scoring Bohman to tie things up at six.

Things momentarily looked bleak, though, as Mt. Aloysius (19-19) regained the momentum – and the lead—with two unearned runs in the top of the ninth.

Now trailing 8-6, the Lions went right to work in the bottom of the ninth. Casey Kern (Monroeville, PA/Gateway) led off the inning with a double. Finnegan followed with a double of his own, scoring Kern to make it an 8-7 game. After Brandon Bergstrom (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) walked, Chris Bissell (Pittsburgh, PA/Woodland Hills) ripped an RBI double to right that plated Finnegan and tied the game at eight.  With one down and Bissell at second, Bohman walked, sending Hlavinka to the plate. The sophomore drilled a single to left, scoring Bergstrom to give Behrend a dramatic, come-from-behind, 9-8 victory. Hlavinka's walk-off capped a wild three-run Lions rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Finnegan finished 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI's, and Bohman had two hits with two runs scored. Hlavinka went 3-for-5 with a run scored and the clinching run batted in.

Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) earned his fifth win of the season for Behrend, as the junior did not allow an earned run in 1.2 innings of relief work.

The Lions will take on either La Roche or Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday, May 10, at noon at La Roche.