Behrend Lions Roll Past Medaille Mavericks in AMCC Baseball Playoffs
The
Penn State Behrend baseball team took two of three games on Saturday, May 6
when they hosted the Medaille Mavericks (13-27, 8-10) in the first round of the
AMCC playoffs. Behrend (27-14-1, 12-6) now advances in the tournament and
will travel to #1 seed and host team Frostburg State (24-11) next weekend.
"Both teams played very good baseball
today," said head coach Paul Benim. "It was a real battle. McCartney was
really excellent in game one and Medaille's staff in the second game was
really strong."
In game one, senior pitcher Chris McCartney (Pittsburgh/Baldwin) pitched six and two-thirds
innings allowing only two runs while striking out six Maverick batters, as
the Behrend Lions cruised to a 4-2 victory. Ryan Smith
(Franklin/Franklin) closed it out with a strike-out and earned his
record-breaking sixth save. With the win, McCartney established a new
single-season record for wins, breaking Ryan Seyler's mark of eight wins
(2002 & 2003). Senior outfielder Shane Elzer (Washington/Trinity) went 2-for-2 at the plate with two doubles and
scored two runs. Junior catcher Gabe Stephenson (State College/State
College), junior outfielder Brian Hart (Valencia/Mars), and junior second
baseman Chris Englehardt (Erie/McDowell) each had two hits as Behrend
collected ten hits in the game.
In game two, Medaille bounced back to win 5-3. The bats went cold for
the blue and white as they managed just four hits, but tied the game in the
bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit single by Dave Miller (St. Marys/St.
Marys). "Elzer and Miller had clutch at-bats for us in game two and
gave us a chance. To Medaille's credit they picked up a couple in the
seventh to earn the win." For the Mavericks, Nick Andreassi and
Kevin Maluchnik combined for four hits and three runs to help the Mavericks
even the series.
In game three it was Behrend's time to answer as the blue and white put up
six runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to winning 7-3.
Junior shortstop Mike Stetz (Johnstown/Bishop McCort) and freshman
outfielder David Miller (St. Mary's/St. Mary's) each had two hits, while
sophomore second baseman Shane Scott (Stoneboro/Lakeview) and sophomore
third baseman Brent Sullivan (Wellsboro/Wellsboro) each had two RBIs.
Two Behrend hurlers combined to give up just five hits while striking out
seven. Senior Ray DeVaul (Saegertown/Saegertown) pitched three and
one-third innings, before Ryan Smith came in to finish off the Mavericks,
pick up the mound victory and send the Behrend Lions on in the AMCC
Tournament. "Smith was busy pitcher today and did a fantastic job," said
Benim. "He has been big all year for us."
Behrend will challenge host school Frostburg State on Friday, May 12 to kick
off a weekend of baseball action to decide the AMCC Champion. Other
schools still alive in the conference championship are #2 seed Pitt-Bradford
(24-13) and #3 La Roche (26-14) who defeated Penn State Altoona two-games to
one in their three-game series.
Last season, Behrend advanced to the
AMCC Championship game for the third time in four years after beating the La
Roche Redhawks 16-5, lost to Pitt-Bradford 10-9, eliminated Frostburg 8-1,
beat Pitt-Bradford 3-0, and then lost in the title game to the Panthers 9-4.
Behrend won the AMCC Conference Tournament title in 2003.
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