The Penn State Behrend Lions earned a convincing sweep over the Pitt-Greensburg Bobcats on Saturday, April 10. The Behrend Lions pounded the Bobcats in the first game by an 18-2 score while relying on pitching in the second for 3-0 shutout victory.
The blue and white went on the attack right from the start as they scored three runs in the bottom of the first to jump on the Bobcats early. Jon Gray (State College/State College) doubled down the first base line and Ed Kessler (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) singled right after that to get two runners on early. Josh Fyffe (Fredonia/Sharpsville) would reach on an error and freshman Matt Bittner (Lancaster/St. Mary's) would bring them all in on a three RBI base hit. Pitt-Greensburg threatened in the second inning as they got runners on second and third with 0 outs. Starting pitcher Steve Miller (Union City/Union City) would get a groundout to third for one out and the second out came when the runner broke for home and was beaten by the throw.
The Bobcats would load the bases in the fourth with one out, but Miller would bare down and get the next two hitters out on strikeouts. Miller finished the game with a season high 10 strikeouts. The Behrend Lions would then go on the offensive attack as they pounded out hit after hit and run after run. The blue and white would increase their lead inning after inning and kept the Bobcats scoreless throughout. Pitt-Greensburg would plate two runners in the last inning, but was far short of the 18 runs that the Behrend Lions put up. Dustin Dubensky (Punxsutawney/Punxsutawney), Fyffe, Bittner and Geoff Lang (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) would alll finish with three hits apiece and Bittner and Gray would add five and four RBI's, respectively. Miller would toss six complete innings of four hit baseball before giving way to Andy Wehler (St. Marys/ECC) to finish the game off.
The second game saw a hard fought battle and an excellent display of pitching by freshman Ryan Jacobs (Port Vue/South Allegheny). The blue and white would threaten early as Bittner would shoot a ball through the right side only to hit Dubensky who was running on the play to record the third out in the inning. Hits were at a minimum early and Behrend finally broke through in a big way in the third. With Kessler on base, Fyffe stepped up to the plate and stroked a ball to the right centerfield gap that soared over the fence for Behrend's first hit and first runs of the ballgame.
A key point in the game came in the fifth inning when the Bobcats' Justin Miller reached base on an error and the next batter attempted to move him to second only to pop up to Jacobs who, in turn, threw to first and doubled off Miller. The blue and white scored their final run of the contest in the sixth as Kessler was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the final run. Jacobs finished with a complete game shutout and had nine strikeouts while only allowing two hits.
With the wins, the Behrend Lions improve to 15-7 overall and 6-2 in the conference. The Bobcats see their record fall to 6-12 and 3-5 in the AMCC. Next up for Behrend will a non-conference matchup with the #5 ranked team in the country, Wooster on Sunday, April 11.
