No. 1 Behrend Shuts Down Late Comeback Attempt By No. 6 Pitt-Bradford To Advance To AMCC Championship; Barnes Claims 100 Career Hits

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The No. 1 Penn State Behrend baseball team has advanced to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship Series, thanks to a 15-14 victory over No. 6 Pitt-Bradford Friday afternoon.

Score: Penn State Behrend 15, Pitt-Bradford 14
Records: Penn State Behrend (29-9), Pitt-Bradford (16-17)

Key Moments:

* The Lions scored in all but two innings that they came to the plate on Friday
* Both teams combined for 29 runs on 30 hits
* Behrend kicked off the scoring early with a two-run ground-rule double from Thomas Nicely (Delmont, PA/Franklin Regional) and an RBI groundout by Cayden Turner (Stoystown, PA/North Star) in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead
* Sophomore Dylan Barnes (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) recorded his 100^th career hit in the inning with a single through the right side
* Behrend tacked on four more runs in the second inning with back-to-back-to-back runs batted in by  Barnes, Mac Ciocco (Venetia, PA/Peters Township), and Daniel Boehme (Peters Township, PA/Seton LaSalle)
* Pitt-Bradford got on the board with a sacrifice fly from Trent Bielak in the top of the third
* Tyler Burick (Erie, PA/Harbor Creek) and Hank Shaffer (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) started the bottom of the third with a single and a double which led to a three-run homer by Silvio Ionadi (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum), extending the Lions advantage to 10 (11-1)
* This marked the second straight game and third of the season that Ionadi has delivered a long ball
* The Panthers cut their deficit to seven (11-4) in the bottom of the third with an RBI double and single from Alex Ognen and Tim Johnson
* A two-out RBI double by Chase Palmer (Brookville, PA/Brookville) got a run back for Behrend in the fourth inning
* In the sixth inning, the Lions pushed their lead back 10 (14-4) with a pair of RBIs by Burick and Palmer
* Seven runs, five hits, and three home runs courtesy of Blake Prestash, Johnson, and Bielak in the top of the seventh closed the Panthers gap to three (14-11)
* Behrend added some cushion in the eighth inning on another RBI from Palmer to make the score 15-11
* Pitt-Bradford threatened to tie the game in the top of the ninth, getting within a run (15-14) on a pair of home runs off the bat of Ognen and Bielak. However, Behrend reliever Joe Lang (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) secured the win for his fifth save of the year with five strikeouts
* Starter Colin Bolla (Fairview, PA/Fairview) earned his sixth win of the season, hurling five innings to go along with six hits, four runs, and seven strikeouts
* All nine Behrend hitters tallied at least one hit with six players registering two or more hits
* Eight Lions notched a run batted in on Friday
* Palmer finished 3-for-3 with three runs batted in
* Six Panthers had two hits, while Bielak drove in a game-high six runs with two homers

Up Next:

* No. 1 Behrend battles the winner of No. 2 Alfred State/No. 3 Pitt-Greensburg and No. 6 Pitt-Bradford tomorrow in the championship series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.