ERIE, Pa. - The Penn State Behrend baseball team defeated D'Youville 4-0 and 7-4 in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) doubleheader on Thursday afternoon.
Ryan Jacobs (Port Vue, PA/South Alleghany) set the tone for the Lions (20-6-1) from the opening pitch in game one. Jacobs threw a complete game shutout, allowing just one hit to earn his fifth victory of the season.
Behrend was able to score their first two runs of the game without a hit. In the first, Evan Bukowski (Washington, PA/Trinity) walked, stole third, and scored on an RBI groundout by Ryan Geibel (East Butler, PA/Butler).
After a scoreless second, Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then tagged up and advanced to third. This time it was Matt Bittner (Lancaster, NY/St. Mary's) who came through with an RBI groundout. Tommy Kocur (Erie, PA/McDowell) followed with a frozen rope to left field to plate Geibel, pushing the lead to 3-0.
In the fourth, Kragnes smacked an RBI double to left center to score James Verona (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional). That was plenty of runs for Jacobs who was able to build on his excellent season.
The junior hurler, who came into the game ranked 10th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings, struck out a season-high 11 batters in the game. Jacobs only faced three more batters than the minimum, making quick work of the Spartan hitters.
In game two, Behrend found themselves in unfamiliar territory after the first inning. The Lions, who had gone seven straight games without trailing after a full inning, were in an early hole, 2-0.
Matt DiDiano (Export, PA/Franklin Regional) and Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch) hit back-to-back RBI doubles to knot the game at 2-all. D'Youville was not backing down though. The Spartans answered with another run in the second to regain the lead.
Behrend erupted in the third though for three runs. Bukowski, Bittner, and Kocur each drove in runs to take all the momentum back. The Spartans put up another run in the third, but a combination of three relievers shut the door on the upset bid.
Jay Condit (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) picked up his fourth win of the season after working a scoreless fourth inning. Connor Semple (Washington, PA/McGuffey) threw 2.1 innings with three strikeouts and no hits allowed. Chad Zurat (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) picked up his AMCC-leading fifth save with two strikeouts in the seventh.
Geibel and Kocur led the offense with three hits in the double dip. Verona added two hits in game one with Junk contributing a pair in the night cap.
Behrend will be back in action Saturday. The Lions will host Pitt-Greensburg at 1 p.m.
