AMCC Champions! Behrend Baseball Clinches Title and NCAA Tournament Bid in 9-8 Thriller over Pitt-Bradford
Penn
State Behrend captured the 2008 AMCC Baseball Championship at the Behrend
baseball field on Sunday, May 11 by holding off Pitt-Bradford 9-8 in front
of 295 fans. The Behrend Lions snatched the AMCC title and the
conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by building an early lead
and then fending off a furious ninth inning rally by the Panthers.
Starting pitcher Charles
Zimoski (Oil City/Oil City) got off to a great start, striking out two of
three batters he faced in the top of the first. The Behrend Lions then
struck early getting four runs in the bottom of the first. Josh Fyffe
(Fredonia/Sharpsville) led off the inning, reaching first on an error before
stealing second. Dustin Dubensky (Punxysutawney/Punxysutawney) stepped up
next to single, moving Fyffe to third. Adam Martin (Rochester/Rochester)
smacked a ball to right field, scoring Fyffe and putting the Behrend Lions
up 1-0. With runners on first and third, Geoff Lang (Pittsburgh/North
Allegheny) crushed a ball to deep left-center for a 2-RBI double, giving the
blue and white an early 3-0 advantage. A Jon Gray (State College/State
College) single would bring Lang home and put the Behrend Lions up 4-0 at
the end of one inning of play.
Zimoski added two more strike outs in the second inning as Behrend had all the momentum early in the game. In the top of the third, Pitt-Bradford would get things going by putting runners on first and second, before each advanced a base on a wild pitch. A walk loaded the bases for Josh Beimel, who would smack a double and score all three base runners, pulling the Panthers within one at 4-3.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, an error put Eddie Kessler (Bethel Park/Bethel Park) on first and a Fyffe walk put runners on first and second. Dubensky stepped to the plate and continued mashing the ball by blasting a rocket off the left field wall, adding two more runs to Behrend’s lead, and bringing the score to 6-3 going into the fifth.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Zack Sullivan (Oil City/Oil City) singled, before Ryan Liddle (DuBoise/DuBoise) reached base. Fyffe was then walked to load the bases for Tom Pasinski (West Mifflin/West Mifflin). Pasinski’s RBI single gave the Behrend Lions a four run lead. Dubensky pounded another deep ball to left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Liddle and gave Behrend a commanding 8-3 lead after six innings.
The Panthers answered back in the seventh when Beimel hit a deep shot to right field, bringing home the runner on first to again put Pitt-Bradford within four. Relief pitcher Zack Sheffer (Cranberry/Cranberry) halted the Panthers rally, getting a strikeout for the third out and closing out the top of the seventh with Behrend holding an 8-4 lead.
The blue and white extended their lead in the eighth with another RBI double
by Dubensky, putting the Behrend Lions up 9-4 and just three outs away from
the AMCC title.
Pitt-Bradford (23-20) would not go away easily in the top of the ninth as the Panthers got runners on the
corners with one out when Beimel hit a ground ball to Sullivan who recorded
the out at first as one run scored making it 9-5. Then Phil Solley
singled in another runner getting the Panthers to within three at 9-6.
From here Justin Bifano stepped to the plate with two outs and on a 0-2
count hammered a 2-run homerun over the left field fence, igniting the
visitors dugout and cutting the Behrend lead to 9-8. A walk put the
tying run on first base, but David Koerbel (Pittsburgh/Central Catholic) who
had come on in relief earlier in the inning, got the final batter to line
out as Sullivan made the play and the Behrend celebration began.
The Behrend Lions (34-10) captured their first AMCC title since 2003 and
will now head to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
The NCAA baseball championship brackets, site locations, and
game times will be announced on Monday.
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