ERIE, Pa. – The No. 2 Penn State Behrend baseball team advances to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships with a pair of wins over No. 3 Mt. Aloysius on Thursday. The Lions won 5-1 and 11-3.
Game One:
Score: Penn State Behrend 5, Mt. Aloysius 1
Records: Penn State Behrend (22-10), Mt. Aloysius (19-13)
Key Moments:
* Starter Thomas Zbezinski (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) got his sixth win of the season, going the distance and throwing a career-high 11 strikeouts
* Josh Wagner (South Park, PA/South Park) went 3 for-4 at the plate with two runs and an RBI
* Wagner hit an RBI single to left field in the first inning to score Braden Paulinellie (DuBois, PA/DuBois) to get the Lions on the board
* Behrend tallied three hits in the second, scoring a single run on Paulinellie's hit to send home CJ Weller (Sewickley, PA/North Allegheny)
* The Lions grabbed a 4-0 lead after the third with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame
* Wagner and Colin Harger (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) started of with singles, before Juston Jones (Moon Township, PA/Moon) ripped an RBI single to the right-field line to get home Wagner
* Harger scored on a ground out into a double play for a four-run lead
* Wagner got his second run and the final for Behrend in the fifth off an Isaac Stouffer (Punxsutawney, PA / Punxsutawney) double
Game Two:
Score: Penn State Behrend 11, Mt. Aloysius 3
Records: Penn State Behrend (23-10), Mt. Aloysius (19-14)
Key Moments:
* Harger led the Lions with a perfect 5-for-5 performance, including four runs and two RBIs
* Behrend scored three runs on three or more hits in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning to take a commanding 10-1 lead
* Jones tallied four RBIs on three hits and scored two runs, while Tanner Cicchini (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) smacked at two-run, two-out triple in the fifth
* Mt. Aloysius struck first with two runners on and no outs in the first inning
* Jeremy Ellimo hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Cody Smith from third for a 1-0 edge
* The Mounties had six scoreless innings before getting a run in the eight and ninth innings
* Behrend broke open a 1-all game in the fourth with three hits, starting with Harger singling to left field and score on Stouffer's hit to left center
* Jacob Deitz (Erie, PA/McDowell) scored a pair of runs with a single to left center for a 3-1 lead that would not relinquish
* Jacob Lindow (Bridgeville, PA/Chartiers Valley) made his seventh start on the mound and collected his fourth win
* Lindow struck out seven in seven innings of work and allowing six hits
Up Next:
* Behrend returns to action on Wednesday against the winner of No.1 La Roche and No. 4 Alfred State. The championship series will be played at the highest remaining seed.
