Behrend Baseball Comes Out Swinging in Season Opener

GREENSBURG, Pa.  – The Penn State Behrend baseball team opened the season with a non-conference doubleheader sweep over Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday afternoon. The Lions won 21-5 and 18-3.

Game One:
Score:  Penn State Behrend 21, Pitt-Greensburg 5
Records: Penn State Behrend (1-0), Pitt-Greensburg (0-5)

Key Moments:

* The Lions scattered 21 runs, 21 hits and 21 RBIs across seven innings for the season-opening win
* Sophomore Derrick Shields (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) earned his second collegiate start, pitching four innings and striking out four to get the win on the hill
* Behrend had five players with multiple hits led by a 4-for-5 showing from Colin Harger (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) and Josh Wagner (South Park, PA/South Park)
* Left-fielder Harger also led the team with five RBIs and a double
* The Lions had their biggest output in the second inning with nine runs to take a 9-1 lead
* Harger's double knocked in Isaac Stouffer (Punxsutawney, PA/Punxsutawney) for the first run of the inning
* Hunter Jamison (Allison Park, PA/Shaler) walked to load the bases and Zack Bowen (Pittsburgh, PA/Serra Catholilc) hit a two-RBI single up the middle to open the flood gates of runs
* Wagner, Stouffer and TJ Johnston (Fox Chapel, PA/Fox Chapel) all had a double and newcomer Anthony Slate (Hopewell, PA/Hopewell) registered in his first collegiate triple

Game Two:
Score:  Penn State Behrend 18, Pitt-Greensburg 3
Records: Penn State Behrend (2-0), Pitt-Greensburg (0-6)

Key Moments:

* Behrend finished the doubleheader without an error and with a pair of wins
* The Lions bats nor the defense cooled off from game one, smacking 15 hits and only allowing three runs over seven innings
* Jacob Lindow (Bridgeville, PA/Chartiers Valley) was the winning pitcher and Jeff Zick (Moon, PA/Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) came in relief for two innings
* Senior Noah Schneider (DuBois, PA/DuBois) hurled the final inning, fanning three
* Wagner turned his three hits, including a two doubles, into five RBI to give him seven hits on the day
* In the four-run fourth, Z. Bowen tallied his first home run of the season and Johnston smacked a triple to push the lead to 9-2
* Behrend held a seven-run lead until the top of the seventh when they added two more runs for the final margin
*  Designated hitter Christian Pacifico (Somerset, PA/Somerset) went 2-for-4 with an RBI

Up Next: 

* Behrend returns to action on Saturday at non-conference Hiram. The doubleheader begins at 1 p.m.