Behrend Baseball Season Ends with Loss to in NCAA Tournament
The
Penn State Behrend baseball team saw its season end with a 5-3 loss to
Gwynedd-Mercy on Thursday, May 15 in the NCAA Tournament in Newark, New
Jersey. Behrend ends the season at 34-12 after earning the program's
second AMCC Title and first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Behrend got its offense going early, loading the bases in the top of the
first with two outs before senior outfielder Joe Breiter
(Finleyville/Ringgold) singled in Adam Martin (Rochester/Rochester) and
Dustin Dubensky (Punxsutawney/Punxsutawney), giving the blue and white a quick 2-0 lead.
Andrew Chrobak (New Castle/Laurel) started the game out strong for the blue
and white, striking out three batters in the first two innings of play.
In the bottom of the third, the Griffins made it a 2-1 game when a two-out
single drove in Griffin centerfielder Mark Mattes. In the bottom of
the fourth inning Gwynedd-Mercy's Albert DiDomenico smacked a two-out single
that drove in a runner to tie the game at 2-2 heading to the top of the
fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, the Griffins struck again with two
outs, scoring two runs with back-to-back RBI singles to go ahead 4-2.
In the top of the seventh, the blue and white got three straight hits to
produce a run and close the gap. Ed Kessler (Bethel Park/Bethel Park)
and Jon Gray (State College/State College) singled before Josh Fyffe's
(Fredonia/Sharpsville) single drove in Kessler to make it a one-run game
again at 4-3.
In the top of the eighth inning, Geoff Lang (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) and
Breiter both singled to start the inning, but Gwynedd-Mercy pitcher Sean
Middleton got a fielder's choice and two fly ball outs to get out of the
inning with the Griffins remaining on top 4-3. Gwynedd-Mercy got an
insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 5-3 score and closed
out the game by getting the final three outs in the top of the ninth.
Chrobak pitched all eight innings for Behrend, giving up five earned runs
and striking out five. The Behrend Lions will lose five seniors from
this year's team including first baseman Zach Sullivan (Oil City/Oil City),
outfielder Breiter, and catchers Martin, Paul Henry (Mamont/Kiski Area), and
Jason Bartlett (Erie/Iroquois).