ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team picked up a sweep over Penn State Altoona on Saturday to improve to 8-2 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) play.
Final Scores:
Penn State Behrend 6, Penn State Altoona 3
Penn State Behrend 18, Penn State Altoona 12
Records: Penn State Behrend 15-9 (8-2 AMCC), Penn State Altoona 9-15 (1-5 AMCC)
Game One Key Moments:
* After allowing two runs in the opening frame, starting pitcher Thomas Zbezinski (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) settled in and went six innings, allowing three runs with nine punchouts
* The Behrend Lions answered in the bottom half, matching the two runs Altoona registered
* Zac Bogats (Corapolis, PA/Moon) led off the bottom of the first with a double and Zack Bowen (Pittsburgh, PA/Serra Catholic) hit the equalizer, crushing a breaking ball for a two-run homerun
* The two teams would match again as both tallied a run in the third inning to set the score at 3-3
* Another Bowen extra-base hit set him at second base with one out in the fifth and would score on a Juston Jones (Moon Township, PA/Moon) single as the go-ahead run
* Mac Ciocco (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) and Daniel Boehme (Peters Township, PA/Seton LaSalle) added insurance with run-scoring singles, increasing the Behrend lead to 6-3
* Joe Lang (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) entered in the seventh, relieving Zbezinski with two runners on
* Lang got the first out via strikeout but would walk the following batter to load the bases
* Lang would escape the jam inducing a groundball for the final out to close the door for a Behrend victory, earning his second save of the season
Game Two Key Moments:
* Both sides again crossed two runs in the opening frame and would be all the offense the game would see until the fourth inning
* Altoona took a two-run advantage into the bottom of the fifth, leading 4-3
* With Altoona leading 7-6 heading to the bottom of the seventh, Behrend put up an eight-run frame to take control
* Five different players for Behrend drove in at least a run during the inning, highlighted by a bases-clearing double by Bogats
* Altoona responded with five in the eighth but was deemed obsolete as Behrend scored four in the bottom half and pitching a clean ninth to collect the win
Noteworthy:
* Bowen had a team-high six hits in the sweep, registering a homerun, three doubles and a triple to go along with four RBIs and seven runs scored
* Jones joined Bowen for the team-lead in game two with three hits while adding two RBIs and two runs
* Bogats collected five hits on the day batting out of the lead-off spot
* Jacob Lindow (Bridgeville, PA/Chartiers Valley) pitched 5.1 innings in game two, allowing three earned runs and striking out four
Up Next:
* Behrend is scheduled to host SUNY Fredonia for a non-conference tilt on Tuesday, April 19 for a single nine-inning game at home beginning at 4 p.m.
