ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team and Pitt-Bradford (8-14-1, 7-8-1) battled for 15 innings before having the game called for darkness with the score knotted up at seven. Each team had scoring opportunities in extra innings, but neither could land a knock-out blow, resulting in a draw.
Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch) led the Lions (23-9-1, 12-3-1 AMCC) offense going 4-for-7 with four RBI's including a clutch two-out two-RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning that tied the game. Junk also doubled home two runs in the sixth inning to drive in Behrend's first two runs after they trailed 3-0.
The Lions used six total pitchers. Alex Hajduk (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) started the game on the mound going six innings and allowing three earned runs.
Tyler Geer, (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) and Zach Murray (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) combined to throw eight shutout innings in relief. Geer came in in the eighth inning and worked through 2.2 scoreless innings.
Semple cruised through the next 2.1 innings allowing just one hit while striking out two. In just his fourth appearance of the season, Murray worked three scoreless frames including getting two huge outs with the winning run in scoring position in the top of the 14th inning.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, JT Riley (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) stepped up with a pinch-hit two-out two-RBI double down the right field line that cut Pitt-Bradford's lead to three. The hit was the first of Riley's career.
The winning run stood just 90 feet away in the bottom of the 15th, but the Lions could not get the hit they needed to take the victory.
Behrend had previously clinched the two-seed in the conference tournament and will play their final scheduled regular-season game tomorrow. The Lions will face-off with Fredonia in the second edition of the I-90 Cup. The winner will hold the trophy until next season when the two teams square off once more. The game will take place at Fredonia at 4 p.m.
