Behrend Grabs One From Greensburg; Clinches Second Seed in AMCC Tournament

Behrend Grabs One From Greensburg; Clinches Second Seed in AMCC Tournament

ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend baseball team scored a 2-0 win in game one against Pitt-Greensburg and finished the second game in a 3-3 tie after 14 innings that was ended due to darkness on Sunday. The following seniors were recognized as graduating seniors: Nathan Campbell (Wexford, PA/North Allegheny), Devin Hicks (Clifton Springs, NY/Midlakes), Anthony Slate (Hopewell, PA/Hopewell), Jeff Zick (Moon, PA/Our Lady of Sacred Heart), and Will Jamison (Shaler, PA/Shaler).

Game One: Penn State Behrend 2, Pitt-Greensburg 0 (7 inn.)
Records: Penn State Behrend (24-10, 10-5 AMCC), Pitt-Greensburg 0 (10-24, 5-10 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* The Lions pushed a run across in the bottom of third on a fielder's choice RBI from Daniel Boehme (Peters Township, PA/Seton LaSalle)
* Sophomore Thomas Nicely (Delmont, PA/Franklin Regional) gave Behrend a 2-0 advantage with an RBI single in the next inning
* This was all the run support needed for game one starter Colin Bolla (Fairview, PA/Fairview)
* Bolla scattered four hits with a season-high 12 strikeouts in his complete game shutout effort
* The freshman left-hander struck out four of the last five batters he faced
* Pitt-Greensburg's game one starter Conner Burkey threw six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and striking out eight

Game Two: Penn State Behrend 3, Pitt-Greensburg 3 (14 inn.)
Records: Penn State Behrend (24-10-1, 10-5-1 AMCC), Pitt-Greensburg 0 (10-24-1, 5-10-1 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Behrend got on the board in the first inning on an RBI single from David Gibson (North East, PA/North East)
* The Bobcats knotted the score at one with an unearned run in the top of the second
* In the bottom of third, Silvio Ionadi (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) broke the tie with an RBI groundout
* Colin Solinski gave Pitt-Greensburg its first lead of the day with a pair of RBI doubles in the fifth and sixth innings
* Freshman Hank Shaffer (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) came up clutch in the ninth inning with a one-out solo home run over the left field fence to tie the score at three
* Each team went into a stalemate for the next four innings of free baseball until the game was called due to darkness
* Zick and Jack Baumgartel (Sewickley, PA/North Allegheny) threw a combined five innings with eight strikeouts and only allowing two hits in extras
* Pitt-Greensburg's reliever Matthew Mazzara pitched five innings, giving up three hits and striking out six
* Shaffer and Dylan Barnes (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) led the Lions with two hits apiece
* Solinski finished with a game-high four hits and two runs-batted in for the Bobcats

Up Next:

* Behrend secured the second seed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Tournament and will take on the winner of No. 3 Hilbert and No. 6 La Roche on Thursday, May 9 at 4 p.m. The championships will be hosted by No. 1 seed Mount Aloysius.