BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team tallied 27 hits in a doubleheader sweep of D'Youville (6-21, 2-14 AMCC) in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action Monday afternoon. The Lions (23-9, 12-3 AMCC) scored 20 runs in the two games and won by scores of 15-1 and 5-2.
Alex Margraf (Erie, PA) set the tone with a solo homerun in the first at-bat of the doubleheader. He continued his impressive hitting performance as of late with five hits in seven at-bats on the day including two RBI's and two runs scored.
Behrend scored at least one run in every inning of game one starting with two in the first inning and four in the second, building an early 6-0 lead. The Lions recorded 15 hits in the game with four hitters in the lineup notching multi-hit performances.
Brandon Bergstrom (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI's and came around to score once. Bergstrom singled home a run in the second inning and added another RBI single in the fifth.
With the offense clicking, Jack Herzing (St. Marys, PA/Elk County Catholic) breezed through five innings of work giving up just five hits and one earned run. Herzing punched out eight and picked up his seventh win of the season.
Brandon Smail (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) took over for Herzing in the sixth inning and tossed two scoreless frames. He fanned four and did not allow a hit.
Behrend built an early 4-0 lead in game two with two-run efforts in the second and third innings. David Boehme drove in the game's first runs with a two-RBI long-ball in the second inning. The homer was the first of Boehme's career.
Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) led off the third inning with a double and was brought home by Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch) who doubled with two-outs. Matt Wolczko (Apollo, PA/Kiski) brought in a second run with two outs singling home Junk to make the score 4-0.
Justin Rohrer (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) started on the mound and held D'Youville scoreless through six innings. The Spartans tacked on two runs in the seventh but were held down by Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) who relieved Rohrer. Rohrer earned the win, finishing with two hits and two earned runs allowed to go along with five K's. Semple worked three scoreless innings giving up just one hit with no walks and four strikeouts.
Junk finished with three hits in the game while Bohman collected two more hits after notching two hits in game one.
With the two victories the Lions clinched the number two seed and will receive a first-round bye in the conference tournament. Behrend is scheduled to take on Pitt-Bradford in a single nine-inning game tomorrow at 4 p.m. The game is a makeup of a rainout back on April 16.
