Baseball Falls in ECAC Southwest Championship
The Penn State Behrend baseball team fell to Grove City 4-3 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship Friday afternoon to become the ECAC Southwest Region Runner-Up in their final game of the season.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team fell to Grove City 4-3 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship Friday afternoon to become the ECAC Southwest Region Runner-Up in their final game of the season.
The Wolverines' (27-17) starter Ryan Gallagher threw a seven-hit complete game to pick up his second win of the weekend and earn tournament MVP honors.
The Lions (30-18) scored three runs on seven hits, two walks and four Grove City errors. William Kirkpatrick (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) led the way with two hits and Brandon Bergstrom (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) had the only RBI.
Like game two Thursday, the Wolverines got on the board first and took a 1-0 after the first inning. They then added another in the second that put Behrend in a 2-0 hole.
The Lions cut their deficit in half in the third when Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) came around to score. He led the inning off with a bunt single and advanced to second on a Bergstrom groundout. Margraf took off for third on another ground ball and the third baseman was unable to handle the throw, allowing Margraf to score.
Each team took advantage of errors in the fifth and scored a run. Matt Wolczko (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and Margraf laid down a sacrifice bunt in the next at bat. Aggressive base running from Wolczko trying to get to third led to a throwing error by the first baseman and he scored to make it a 3-2 game.
Grove City scored one more time in the top of the ninth, leaving Behrend with a two run deficit in their final at bats. Bergstrom hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half to put one run across, but they left a runner on second and were unable to make a full comeback.
Alex Hajduk (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Zachary Krivda (McKeesport, PA/McKeesport Area) combined for a solid game on the mound. Hajduk got the start and went 4.2 strong, surrendering five hits, three runs, a walk and struck out two. Krivda finished the final 4.1 and gave up only three hits, a run and he also struck out two. The run support just wasn't there to get one of them a win.
The Lions closed out their season with a 30-18 overall record and became AMCC and ECAC Southwest runners-up, hosting the ECAC Southwest Championship for the third consecutive year.