ERIE, Pa. – Hilbert College baseball suffered a double header loss to Penn State Behrend today. The 5-3 Lions packed several runs into a few innings each game setting up the 6-3 and 17-4 victories over the 1-5 Hawks.
After spotting the Lions three runs in the 2nd inning, the Hawks battled back in the top of the fourth to match the score (3-3), but Behrend responded in the bottom half of that same inning to take a 6-3 win.
Daniel Christmann led off with a single down the right field line and once
Anthony Wurstner walked to first, the two base runners made it home thanks to
Paul Wujek's 2RBI double to the left side. Wujek made it home off both
Ryan Bonafede and
Kevin Moore hits. The inning ended with two men on base and the tie score.
Behrend strung together three hits and two stolen bases into three more runs for the final scores of the game.
Ryan Bonadefe and
Paul Wujek went 2 for 3 in the game with Wujek and
Kevin Moore notching the RBIs.
In five innings of work,
Justin Hulbert took the loss giving up seven hits, four earned runs and struck out four.
Andrew Cartaginese tossed the final inning without any additional runs, but gave up three hits combined with one strike out.
The second game started out with promise for Hilbert in the first inning. The Hawks set up bases loaded (with one out) on the Lion's rookie pitcher who earned his first start. Hilbert's next batter hit into a double-play which ended the score-less inning.
Behrend snuck two runs in the bottom half of that inning and held the Hawks in check in the top of the 2nd. But six hits, combined with two Hilbert errors padded the Lions lead with eight more runs.
Daniel Christmann' poke to the left field led to his return to home after
Eric Flores pushed him to second and
Paul Wujek singled him home in the third inning to post a 10-1 score.
Behrend tacked on six runs in the third and fourth innings before Hilbert's offense connected again.
Joshua Maier and
Michael Best earned walks and
Tyler Shaw's double to left field gave both base runners time to cross home plate for the 16-3 score.
Hilbert scored their final run in the top of the 9th after
Joshua Maier made it to first, then second base thanks to the Lion's 3rd baseman's error. Maier stretched his steps to third off a wild pitch and out ran the thrown-down to home when
Tyler Shaw hit a sac fly to center field.
Daniel Christmann went 3 for 5 but
Tyler Shaw's time at the plate was impressive. He entered the game as a designated hitter and went 1 for 2, but knocked in three of Hilbert's four runs.
A full-battery of pitchers were used during the game.
Justin Crawley took the loss after the first inning as he gave up eight hits and runs against 14 batters. Freshman
Winfred Nelson had the most success of the five-man crew. The rookie tossed four innings while surrendering three hits, one earned run and credited with one strike out.
The Hawks climb back on the bus Friday for this weekend's back-to-back games at Penn State Altoona (4/18 DH) and Pitt-Greensburg (4/19 DH). Hilbert returns to Hamburg for a four-game home stretch. The Hawks will host D'Youviile, La Roche, The College at Brockport and Medaille over the course of a seven-day period. Hilbert is set to close their season with a 4/30 game at Elmira.
