ERIE, Pa. – On senior day, the Penn State Behrend baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Grove City (12-20). The Lions (21-9) took game one by a score of 5-2 but fell in the second leg of the doubleheader by a score of 9-5.
John Hlavinka (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) paced the Behrend offense in the game one victory driving in four of the Lions five runs. Hlavinka singled home two runs in the third to give Behrend a 2-0 lead and followed with another two-RBI single in the fourth.
For the second straight start Tylor Williams (Atlantic, PA/Conneaut Lake) held the opposing offense scoreless providing Behrend with six shutout innings. He allowed just three hits while striking out six and earned his fourth win of the season.
Matt Wolczko (Apollo, PA/Kiski) added a 2-for-3 effort at the plate knocking in a run on an RBI single in the fourth.
Grove City threatened in the top of the seventh with two runs, but Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) got Ryan Vero to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
The Lions fell behind early in game two when Grove City put up a six spot in the top of the third inning. Behrend chipped away at the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) came up with a two-out RBI-single to cut the lead to five.
Three straight hits for Behrend to start the bottom of fifth sparked a four-run rally that would put the Lions back in the game. After singles by Hlavinka and Alex Margraf, (Erie, PA/McDowell) Bohman came up with a single through the left side that scored Hlavinka. Brandon Bergstrom (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) brought home Margraf with a sacrifice fly and Corey Bowers doubled to left center to bring in two more runs.
Grove City would counter with three runs in the sixth and hold the Lions scoreless in the sixth and seventh to earn the victory.
Hlavinka, Margraf, Bohman and Bowers all had two hits in the game. Hlavinka also scored twice.
Behrend returns to conference play on Monday with a doubleheader on the road against D'Youville. The Lions currently sit in second place in the AMCC and can clinch at least the number two seed and a first round bye in the conference tournament with two wins. The doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m.
