ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team is off to their best start since 2010 with six straight wins, defeating Penn State Altoona 3-1 and 14-5 in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday.
Game One:
Score: Penn State Behrend 3, Penn State Altoona 1
Records: Penn State Behrend (5-0), Penn State Altoona (1-2)
Key Moments:
* The Behrend Lions never trailed in game one
* Behrend scored two runs in the fourth and added an insurance run in the top of the seventh
* Junior Zack Bowen (Pittsburgh, PA/Serra Catholic) smacking a double to center field to star the fourth
* Bowen advanced to third on a single by senior Christian Pacifico (Somerset, PA/Somerset) and then got home on a throwing error
* Pinch running for Pacifico, senior Tanner Cicchini (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by Colin Harger (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler)
* The Altoona Lions cut the lead to one with a run in the sixth off an error
* In the seventh, Harger singled and advanced on a sac bunt to put the Lions in scoring position
* Sophomore Juston Jones (Moon Township, PA/Moon) hit an RBI double to right center to score pinch runner Dom Charletta (West Newton, PA/Yough) for a 3-1 final
* Jones and Pacifico finished with a pair of hits
* Sophomore pitcher Derrick Shields (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) pitched 6.1 innings and struck out nine for his second win of the season
* Sophomore Colin Kelly (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) threw the final inning to record his first save
Game Two:
Score: Penn State Behrend 14, Penn State Altoona 5
Records: Penn State Behrend (6-0), Penn State Altoona (1-3)
Key Moments:
* Behrend had five players with multiple hits led by a 4-for-5 performance by Jones (double, triple)
* The Lions held a 5-4 lead after the third inning and then tacked on nine more runs over the final three innings
* Senior Braden Paulinellie (DuBois, PA/DuBois) went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, while junior Jake Deitz (Erie, PA/McDowell) recorded three RBI on one hit
* The winning pitcher was freshman Will Jamison (Allison Park, PA/Shaler), who came in the middle of the third and pitched four innings and fanned four
* Behrend grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning behind Jones' triple and senior Josh Wagner's (South Park, PA/South Park) second home run in as many days
* Altoona got within one with three runs in the third
* A doubles by freshman Anthony Slate (Hopewell, PA/Hopewell) and Paulinellie pushed the Behrend lead to 7-4 in the fifth before the Lions exploded for seven runs in the sixth
Up Next:
* Behrend returns to action on Tuesday against Allegheny for its home opener. The single game begins at 3 p.m.
