Behrend Lions Fall to Washington & Jefferson in Slugfest

The Penn State Behrend Lions fell to the Washington and Jefferson Presidents on Tuesday, April 6 by a score of 14-11 at the Behrend diamond.  The Presidents used a late inning rally to the defeat the blue and white.

W & J got it going in the first inning as they loaded the bases after three walks and managed to score a run on a wild pitch.  Behrend starter Ryan Jacobs (Port Vue/South Allegheny) would then record his second strikeout of the inning to prevent any further damage.  The blue and white would go on an offensive attack in the bottom of the first as they put up eight runs on seven hits.  Jon Gray (State College/State College) and Ed Kessler (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) would start the inning with base hits to the left side.  Josh Fyffe (Fredonia/Sharpsville) would come up next and send a blast to the right centerfield gap to score Gray and Kessler and wind up with a triple.  Dustin Dubensky (Punxsutawney/Punxsutawney) would single Fyffe home and Ryan Kragnes (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) would hit a ball up the middle that wound up hitting the base umpire and scoring Dubensky.  Geoff Lang (Pittsburgh/North Allegheny) would provide a two RBI double and Gray would add another double down the first base line to score Lang and put the Behrend Lions up 8-1 after one.

W & J cut the lead to 8-3 in the third as Jim Pasquine and Mark Thomchick each added RBI hits and the Behrend lead was cut to four after five innings of play.  The sixth inning saw the Presidents put two more runs on the board, but Behrend would answer with two of their own on a Matt Bittner (Lancaster/St. Mary’s) two RBI single.

After eight innings of play, the blue and white had a slim 11-10 lead and with the way this game was going, no lead was safe.  W & J sealed their comeback in the ninth with three straight base hits to open the inning and tie the score at 11.  They would take their first lead of the game after a Frank Quirin single made it 13-11 and would add one more shut down the Behrend Lions in the bottom half of the ninth for a 14-11 victory.

The blue and white see their record fall to 13-6 overall and remain 4-2 in the conference.  W & J improves their record to 11-5 overall.  Behrend will next travel to Allegheny on Wednesday, April 7 in a non-conference matchup.  They will then host weekend games with Pitt-Greensburg and Wooster coming to town.