ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend baseball team swept Pitt-Bradford on Tuesday afternoon in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action. The Lions (14-6-1, 5-0-1 AMCC) did not allow a single run in the doubleheader, defeating the Panthers 3-0 and 1-0.
In game one, Ryan Jacobs (Port Vue, PA/South Allegheny) set the tone with a brilliant performance on the bump. Jacobs threw 5.1 innings, struck out nine hitters, and only allowed three hits en route to his fourth victory of the season.
With the scored tied at 0-0 through three innings, the Lions played small ball to plate their first run. After Dante DeSantis (DuBois, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) led off the fourth with a double, Vinny Rice (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance DeSantis to third. Ryan Finnegan (Fombell, PA/Riverside) followed up Rice's bunt with a textbook bunt of his own to drive in the go ahead run.
Still up by one in the sixth inning, Tommy Kocur (Erie, PA/McDowell) came through in the clutch with a frozen rope to center field with two outs to push across two insurance runs for Behrend. Chad Zurat (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) shut the door on the Panthers with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the save.
Game two saw the same story as the opener. Jay Condit (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) followed Jacobs and Zurat with another strong outing for the Lions. Condit threw 6.2 innings on the hill without allowing a run for his third win of the year.
Behrend only had three hits in the game, but two of them came when it mattered most. After Finnegan laced a double down the right field line, Evan Bukowski (Washington, PA/Trinity) crushed a double to deep left field with two outs to score Finnegan. The one run was all that Condit needed before giving way to freshman pitcher Jory Okerlund (Smethport, PA/Smethport).
With two outs and runners on second and third, Okerlund struck out the only batter he faced to secure the victory.
In the 14 innings played, the Lions' staff struck out a total of 17 batters and only walked two.
Behrend will return to the diamond on Saturday to host defending AMCC Champions Penn St. Altoona. Game one of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m.
