Penn State Behrend Baseball Splits With Fredonia State in Non-Conference Matchup

Ed Kessler
Ed Kessler

The Penn State Behrend Lions hosted the Fredonia State Blue Devils in a non-conference matchup on Thursday, April 1.  The blue and white were defeated in the first game by a score of 12-6 while the second game went the blue and white's way, 10-2. 

In the first innning of game one, Ed Kessler (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) would start a rally going with a single and Josh Fyffe (Fredonia/Sharpsville) would reach base shortly after and both were put into scoring position after a passed ball moved them up.  Ryan Liddle (DuBois/DuBois) then stepped to the plate and laced a bases clearing triple to put the blue and white up 2-0.  The Blue Devils would answer in the second inning as they had two runners on and Vinnie VanAuker would tie the score with a double to the right centerfield gap. 

Behrend would answer that with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the second on a Jon Gray (State College/State College) RBI double and teammate Geoff Lang (Pittsburgh/North Allegeny) would later score on a ball that scooted pass the catcher.  Fredonia got it going again in the fourth with four runs scored to make it 6-4 in favor of the Blue Devils.  Rob Herrmann of the Blue Devils, would send a two-run blast over the left field fence in the sixth inning to put the Blue Devils ahead by a commanding 10-4 score.  Each team would put up two more runs apiece in the seventh and Fredonia walked out of game one with a 12-6 victory.

Game two saw freshman pitcher Michael Moyer (Clearfield/Clearfield) throw five strong innings, scatter seven hits and only allow two runs.  Behrend would put three on the board in the first inning and never trailed from there.  Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) contributed three hits while Fyffe, Matt Bittner (Lancaster/St.Marys) and Rich Doyle (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) all produced two hits.  Jay Condit (Cranberry Twp./Seneca Valley) would toss the final two innings, only allowing three hits and not surrendering a run.

The Penn State Behrend Lions are now 12 and 4 overall and remain at 3-1 in the AMCC.  Fredonia moves to 8 and 3 on the young season.  Up next for the blue and white will be a road conference matchup with the La Roche Redhawks on Saturday, April 3.  The doubleheader is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.