BRADFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team swept a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) games against Pitt-Bradford 8-6 and 14-10 Wednesday afternoon.
The Lions (14-6, 3-1 AMCC) heated up their bats in the cold weather to combine for a .330 batting average on 25 hits in the double header. Four different players notched muti-hit games in game one and five had two or more hits in game two against the Panthers (6-12, 1-3 AMCC).
The early innings were also key in the two Behrend victories. In the first leg, they started the game with three runs in the first and followed with four in the third. In game two, the Lions tallied five to lead off the game and followed with a four spot in the second.
In the first game, Behrend's one, two and three hitters led the way scoring. Scott Sada (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) went 2-for-4, including a double and home run to drive in three total runs and score twice. John Hlavinka (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) hit 2-for-4 behind Sada with a run scored and Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) went 2-for-3 with a walk. He drove in two and scored once.
Bohman singled in the first that scored Hlavinka and Sada, then later scored on a fielder's choice created by Brandon Bergstrom (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny). In the third, two throwing errors by the Bradford third baseman produce Lion runs. Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) scored on a throwing error after reaching on a previous error. Sada later drilled a two RBI dinger over the left field fence.
Sean Rutkosky (Harborcreek, PA/Harbor Creek) continued a great pitching start to his collegiate career. He picked up his second straight win in his second start in 5.2 innings of work, surrendering only one run. Eric Mikulan (Pittsburgh, PA/Hampton), who leads the AMCC in wins (4), picked up his first save of the season. He got the final out of the game, getting Behrend out of a jam after the Panthers had already scored three in the seventh.
Game two was much of the same from the first. Hlavinka and Bohman tallied two hits once again. Bergstrom and Justin Foreman (Oakdale, PA/South Fayette) added two more, while David Boehme (Venetia, PA/Seton-Le Salle) had the biggest game at the plate with a 4-for-6 performance. Bohman and Boehme recorded two RBIs along with Bergstrom, Foreman and Zach Murray (Pittsbugh, PA/Baldwin) who each had three.
Zachary Krivda (McKeesport, PA/McKeesport) threw five innings on the bunp and picked up his second win of the season, while Brandon Smail (Apollo, PA/Kiski Area) and Sada closed the game in relief. Krivda gave up six hits and struck out three. Smail and Sada each struck out one in three and one inning of relief respectively while Sada got the save (2).
The Lions got five runs on six hits in the first. Bergstrom singled and Foreman and Murray hit back-to-back doubles to all knock in runners. In the second, the same three did it again. Bergstrom walked to drive in a run and later scored on a Murray groundout. Foreman doubled once again to knock in two more runs and Behrend took a commanding 9-0 lead.
Bradford would fight their way back however. Dalton Renn hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third that cut into the Lion lead. The Panthers then added three more runs in the fourth thanks to a bases loaded walk and a two RBI double by Pat James.
Behrend added a run in the seventh and the eight, followed by three in the ninth to give themselves a comfortable seven run lead. Like game one, Pitt-Bradford scored three runs in the ninth, but were unable to come all the way back and fell short, giving the Lions the sweep.
Behrend is back in action Saturday, weather permitting, against Mount Aloysius for a double header at 1 and 4 p.m.
