ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team won the 2013 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship after defeating La Roche 9-5 on Saturday afternoon.
The victory marked the fifth AMCC Championship in program history and will send Behrend to the NCAA Tournament via the AMCC's automatic bid.
The Lions (30-10) found themselves trailing 3-0 after the first two innings but stole the momentum with a big third inning. Behrend plated seven runs on just two hits but capitalized on three critical La Roche errors.
In the third, the Lions started the inning with two walks and a single to load the bases. Evan Bukowski (Washington, PA/Trinity) was next to hit and drew another walk to put Behrend on the board. After a pitching change, Vinny Rice (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) plated the Lions' second run on a sacrifice fly.
Just when the inning appeared to be over, Behrend turned the tables and cashed in on three fielding errors by the Redhawks. After Jordan Weinzierl (St. Marys, PA/St. Marys) reached on a misplay, Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) clutched up with a two-out two-run single to give the Lions a 5-3 lead. Behrend added two more unearned runs and when the inning finally came to an end, the Lions had a 7-3 advantage.
After a shaky first inning, starting pitcher Tylor Williams (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake) settled down and took command of the game. Williams earned the victory for Behrend with six solid innings of work. Chad Zurat (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) picked up the save with three innings out of the pen.
A huge turning point in the game came in the eighth inning. The Redhawks already scored once to cut the deficit to just four and were threating with the bases loaded and two outs. After the next pitch got away from the catcher, Bukowski made the play of the game for the Lions. The senior catcher hustled and while sliding to get the ball, made a clean pick and throw to Zurat who was covering the plate to tag the runner out at home and seal the victory for Behrend.
The Lions' offense was led by Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) who went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored. Kragnes also made multiple outstanding defensive plays to keep the La Roche offense off the board. Rice and Margraf each contributed two RBIs for Behrend.
The Lions will now wait until Monday to see where and who they will play in the NCAA Tournament.
