The men’s baseball team faced off against conference rivals Medaille and Alfred State this past week in two doubleheader series. Behrend, propelled by two masterful offensive performances, defeated the Mavericks by deficits of 16 and five, respectively, improving to a .500 record in the AMCC. The Lions extended their winning streak to five games after sweeping the Alfred State Pioneers later in the week, outscoring the Pioneers 19-4 in the two games played. As can be infered, the Behrend bats were striking virtually every ball that was thrown their direction, and their pitching consistently shut down opposing offenses.

 

In game one against Medaille, the Lions amassed 18 runs on an astounding 21 hits. Five of those hits came off the bat of senior David Boehme, who ended up driving in half of Behrend’s runs in the game and came just a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Medaille never really had a chance, as Behrend got out to an eight run lead after the top of the fourth inning after a Justin Foreman two run shot. This was just before the Lions scored seven in the fifth inning to take a 15-1 lead. Phil Myers improved his record to 4-2, allowing one earned run and striking out six batters. Scott Sada hit one out, drove three in and crossed the plate five times. Four Behrend batters had three or more base knocks, those being Sada, Boehme, Braden Paulinellie and Zach Murray.

 

Game two did fare a little better for the Mavericks, however, Behrend could not be stopped and obtained the five-run victory. Boehme smacked his fourth homer of the day in the top of the second to start the scoring. Two innings later, Foreman hit another two-run bomb to extend the lead to six. After Medaille trimmed the lead to three after the sixth inning, the Lions scored in each of the last three innings to pull away. Brandon Smail, Ben Ramey, and Nathan Mayes combined to allow six runs (four earned), strike out 11 and allow only eight hits.

 

In game one of the second doubleheader, senior Jack Herzing struck out 16 Alfred State batters en route to setting a school record for career strikeouts at 257. Herzing allowed a mere one hit, which was the lone baserunner, in shutting out the Pioneers. Behrend had a six-run third inning following a lone run in the first, amassing a 7-0 lead and riding that to victory. All six runs in the third inning came with two outs, as Foreman drove in two on a single, followed by hits from John Brittner, Paulinellie, Murray and Ian Taylor that all drove in runs.

 

It was the Pioneers who got out to a good start in game two, taking a one-run lead into the third inning. In the bottom of the third, Behrend scored two runs on a Mason McGuire sacrifice fly and a Sada double that scored Taylor. In the fourth, Paulinellie drove home a run and then scored on a balk. The Lions started putting the nails in the coffin upon the end of the fifth inning, as they scored seven to extend the lead to eight. Alex Hajduk continued his undefeated streak on the mound in allowing three earned runs in six innings and striking out eight.

 

The Lions’ game scheduled for this Thursday against Allegheny has been postponed. The Lions will look to continue their winning streak on the road in a doubleheader against the Pitt-Bradford Panthers next Tuesday. The first game starts at 1 p.m.