Behrend Beats Altoona in Winners Bracket Finals, Frostburg Eliminated

Game Three: Penn State Behrend 11, Penn State Altoona 4

Penn State Behrend put four runs up in the bottom of the first inning.  David Miller had the first RBI of the game when he singled home Jon Gray.  Miller scored on a Geoff Lang single to put the home squad ahead 2-0.  Adam Hartwing followed with a 2-run double and Behrend had a quick 4-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth Altoona's Grady Luzier walked and scored when Cord Heine followed with a double cutting the lead to three at 4-1 with no outs.  Behrend starting pitcher David Koerbel got two strikeouts and threw out a runner at home to get out of the jam without any further damage and the game moved to the fifth with Behrend ahead by three.

In the bottom of the fifth Behrend loaded the bases and pushed one run across before Gray tripled for two more RBIs, scoring Ryan Geibel and Lang for a 7-1 lead.  The Behrend Lions added a run in the sixth to make it 8-1 with three innings to play.  Altoona got something going in the seventh scoring three runs on three hits in the inning as Heine, Jim Byers, and Ryan Pollicino all scored cutting the Behrend lead to 8-4.  Koerbel got a strikeout to end the inning and his day of work.  The senior hurler fired 13 strikeouts over seven innings, giving up four runs, one of them earned.

The Behrend Lions got all three runs back in the bottom of the inning as Josh Fyffe exploded on a ball, jacking a 3-run homer over the left field fence after Gray and Ed Kessler reached base on walks.  Ryan Smith came in to close out the final six outs, giving up just one hit and no runs to close out the 11-4 victory.  Koerbel earned the win as Behrend advanced to the championship round with a 11-4 victory.

Game Four: Penn State Altoona 12, Frostburg State 4

Penn State Altoona met up for the second time in the tournament with Frostburg State and just like in the first meeting, Altoona put runs up early.  Altoona pushed two runs across in the top of the first but Frostburg got one of its own in the bottom of the inning as Altoona had a 2-1 lead heading into the second.

The score would stay that way until the fourth inning when Frostburg's pitching came apart.  Altoona knocked out three hits, earned a walk, and had three batters hit by a pitch in the inning as Heine, John Schall, Jim Bennett, and Robert Reece all crossed the plate for the Lions, building a 6-1 lead.

In the fifth Byers and Schall led off with back-to-back doubles and both eventually scored as Altoona put up three more runs to bust it open and forge a 9-1 advantage.  Altoona starter Gerard Vath lasted 7.2 innings and struck out ten while giving up 3 earned runs.  Frostburg battled back to push a run across the plate in the seventh and eighth to pull within six before Altoona made it 12-3 with three runs in the top of the ninth.  Down to their last at bats the Frostburg State Bobcats were able to get another run but Altoona closed out its second comfortable win in two days against the Bobcats with a final score of 12-4. 

Penn State Altoona advances to the championship round to meet Penn State Behrend at 10:00 a.m.  Behrend needs one win to claim the AMCC Championships, while Altoona is two wins from capturing the championship.