READING, PA – The Penn State Harrisburg men's baseball team placed second in the North Eastern Athletic Conference West Division Saturday, May 1st, held at Hintz Athletic Field on Penn State Berks campus.
A three run eighth inning would be enough for the number two seed Nittany Lions as they take down the number three seed Penn State Abington 7-3 in game one of the double-elimination tournament. Sophomore pitcher, Drew Kramer (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), would strike out a school record 19 batters to give the blue and white a much needed game one win.
In the night cap, Penn State Harrisburg found themselves in a slugging match against the number four seed Wildcats of SUNYIT who defeated the hosting number one seed Penn State Berks in previous play. The Nittany Lions were able to pull within one with a three run fifth inning, 8-7, but errors would prove to be the blue and white's weakness accumulating four throughout the game which would come at critical times.
SUNYIT's pitching would retire the last six batters in order to capture the 12-9 win to advance to the NEAC West Championship.
On day two, the blue and white bounced back by defeating host, Penn State Berks, 6-2, to advance to the finals in a rematch against SUNYIT. Junior pitcher, Barry Wiestling (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin), provided the Lions with a six hit, two run outing to give him his fourth win on the season.
In the rematch, it would be all SUNYIT, crushing Penn State Harrisburg while connecting on 22 hits for 17 runs to give the Wildcats their first NEAC West Division Championship.