ERIE, Pa. – Jordan Weinzierl (St. Mary's, PA/St. Mary's) had four hits including a double with three runs batted in to lead the Penn State Behrend baseball team to a 17-5 victory over Thiel at a soggy Behrend Diamond on Monday afternoon.
The game was called with the Tomcats batting in the top of the eighth due to heavy rain.
The Lions (13-9) started off the scoring in their opening frame. Weinzierl drilled a one-out single to center and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ryan Finnegan (Fombell, PA/Riverside) singled him home to give Behrend a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, John Hlavinka (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) singled in Finnegan to make things 2-0 after one.
In the bottom of the second, the Lions added four more. Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) hit a two-run double to left, and Weinzierl followed with another RBI knock. Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) then closed out the scoring with a run-scoring single that went just inside the left field line.
Behrend broke the game open in the third. First, Justin Dilla (South Park, PA/South Park) scored on a wild pitch. Three batters later, Bohman worked a bases-loaded walk to bring in another run. Hlavinka then delivered the big blow – a two-run double to left center. It was another four-spot that put the Lions up 10-0 after three.
Thiel (11-16) scored four of their own in the top of the fourth, but Behrend responded with single runs in the fourth and fifth on a Weinzierl RBI double and a Matt Wolczko (Apollo, PA/Kiski) run-scoring single.
The Lions capped off the scoring in the bottom of the seventh. Taylor Overby (Nazareth, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) nailed a two-run single to right center to bring in Behrend's 13th and 14th runs of the ballgame. Dilla then scored on an error, and Overby came home on a wild pitch.
Hlavinka closed out the hit parade for the Lions with a two-run double. The sophomore finished with three runs batted in on the afternoon.
The game, which was played with periodic showers throughout, was called in the top of the eighth when it became clear that the rain would not let up.
Justin Wood (Allegany, NY/Allegany Limestone) earned his second win of the season for Behrend, striking out six in five innings of work.
Dillia finished with three hits and three runs scored, and Wolczko went 3-for-5 with a run batted in. In all, six Lions players had multi-hit games in what was Behrend's best offensive output of the season.
The Lions will travel to take on D'Youville for a conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 16 at 3 p.m.
