Penn State Behrend Baseball Season Ends With Loss in NCAA Tournament

Baseball Team
Baseball Team

The Penn State Behrend baseball team saw their season come to end on Friday, May 21 with a loss to the host of the tournament, Marietta College.  The Behrend Lions had a spectacular run through the regionals, winning the first two games and becoming the talk of Division III baseball.

After capturing the 2010 AMCC Championship for the third consecutive year, the Behrend Lions went in to the Mideast regional as the seven seed and knew how tough the competition was going to be.  The blue and white were the talk of the tournament on the first day as they upset highly ranked and respected Wooster in an extra inning game that saw two rain delays and Behrend coming out on top 10-8.  They were back at it again the next day as they faced off against Thomas More and jumped out to an early lead and were able to hang on for a 7-6 victory and a matchup with the number one seed Heidelberg and a chance to get to the regional championship series.  Behrend would, however, drop the game to the Student Prince's by a score of 9-2 and saw themselves facing elimination that same night.

That night, the Behrend Lions faced off with Marietta and by the end of the night, people were talking about this being the best game they have ever seen.  The only problem was that the blue and white came out on the losing end of a 2-1 ballgame that went into extra innings.  Ryan Zamiskie(Jeannette/Penn Trafford) put in a gutsy performance throwing all 10 innings willing his team to the end.  It was a great game from both ends and Behrend had nothing to hang their heads about.  The blue and white were the talk of the nation after the first two days and they should carry that with them heading into next season.

"This was a tremendous season that was driven by our senior class," said Head Coach Paul Benim.  "They piled up three times and raises the bar with their performance in the NCAA Tournament.  These guys are special and will be missed but have left an indelible mark on Behrend baseball."

The Behrend Lions finished the season at 31-17 for their third straight 30 plus win season.  They had seven players named to the AMCC All-Conference teams including the Player of the Year Josh Fyffe(Fredonia/Sharpsville).  Several athletes broke single season and career records and this year's senior class will go down as the winningest class in Behrend history.