ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team remained undefeated in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) play with a sweep of D'Youville on Wednesday. The Lions took game one 5-0 before knocking off the Spartans 7-1 in the nightcap.
Tylor Williams (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake) was brilliant on the mound for Behrend in the opener, throwing six scoreless innings with six strikeouts to earn his third win of the year.
The Lions got on the board early in game one with two in the first inning. Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) started the game with a single and advance to second on an error. Without hesitation, Kragnes then swiped third, one of three stolen bases on the day for the senior, and came around to score. Corey Bowers (Westlake, OH/Westlake) drove in the other run for Behrend after the Lions loaded the bases with three straight walks.
Behrend put up single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Jordan Weinzierl (St. Marys, PA/St. Marys) and Evan Bukowski (Washington, PA/Trinity) each had an RBI for the Lions.
Jay Condit (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) came in out of the pen to close the game with an inning of scoreless relief.
In game two, Behrend did not take control until the sixth inning where they scored five runs.
With the Lions leading 2-1 in the third, D'Youville threatened with the bases loaded and one out. Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) came in to pitch for Behrend and got two big outs to get out of the inning.
In the sixth, the Lions added five insurance runs to seal the victory. John Hlavinka (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) and Bukowski started the scoring with an RBI each. After a pitching change, Matt Bittner (Lancaster, NY/St. Mary's) hit a two-run single to left center giving Behrend a 6-1 lead. Vinny Rice (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) added the last run for the Lions with a sacrifice fly.
Semple and Matt Parnes (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) combined to throw 4.2 innings of relief with four strikeouts. Semple picked up his first win of the year on the bump.
Bittner led the offense in game two with a 3-for-3 day with two RBIs, one run scored, and one stolen base.
Behrend will be back in action tomorrow to host La Roche in an AMCC doubleheader. Game one is set to begin at 1 p.m.
