Reading, Pa (May 18, 2023) - Penn State Behrend (21-19) took game one by a score of 6-1 but Alvernia University (28-19) responded with a 9-3 victory in game two to force a game three in the ECAC Baseball Championship Thursday afternoon at Alvernia's Angelica Park.

PSU Behrend scored two runs in the second and four runs in the top half of the fifth inning to help them push past the Golden Wolves in game one but Alvernia came back with a commanding 9-3 victory in the second game of the double header to force game three tomorrow afternoon. 

The Lions struck first in the victing half of the second inning when John Berger and Ryan Meneskie scored on an Alvernia fielding error to take an early 2-0 lead. 

PSU Behrend tacked on four more in the top half of the fifth inning, Mac Ciocco started things off with a two RBI double to right field to extend the lead to 4-0, then Meneskie tallied a two RBI single to center to make it a 6-0 ballgame. 

The Golden Wolves responded with a run in the home half of the fifth thanks to an RBI groundout by Joe Glass to score Joe Canterino and cut the Lions lead to five, 6-1. 

The Golden Wolves threatened in the bottom of the sixth with runners on second and third but a big strikeout by Jeff Zick got the Lions out of the jam with the five run lead still intact. 

The Golden Wolves and the Lions kept each other scoreless in the final three innings of baseball as PSU Behrend took game one by a score of 6-1. 

Jake Umans started on the hill for the Golden Wolves in game one, Michael Andrew, James Mueller, Matt Colucci and Brody DeGroodt all came on in relief for Alvernia. 

Glass led the Golden Wolves with a hit and an RBI in game one, Rogacki, Smith, Fiedel and Kelly all tallied hits and RJ Emrich tallied a pinch hit double. 

The Lions got on the board first in game two with two runs in the top half of the inning, Isaac Stouffer got things going with an RBI double down the left field line and Ciocco recorded an RBI groundout to score Stouffer to make it 2-0 Behrend.

The Golden Wolves responded with a four spot in the home half of the first to take a 4-2 lead. Brandon Smith started things off with an infield single to the shortstop that then got kicked around and allowed both Mike Pulcini and Glass to score to tie the game at two. Jason Kelly followed Smith up with an RBI single to center field to score Smith and Grant Fitzgerald singled into the left center gap to give Alvernia a two run lead. 

Alvernia tallied two more in the bottom of the fourth when Mike Ramundo and Glass scored on a fielding error by the Lions and extended the Golden Wolves lead to 6-2. 

An RBI single by Emrich to score Ramundo made it 7-2 Alvernia after six innings of baseball. 

PSU Behrend grabbed one back in the top of the seventh when Colin Harger scored on a wild pitch to make it a four run game, 7-3 Golden Wolves. 

The Golden Wolves tacked on two more in the bottom of the seventh when Ramundo ripped a two RBI single to right field to score Rogacki and Pulcini and put the game out of reach as the Golden Wolves took a 9-3 lead. 

Evan Wood started on the bump for Alvernia in game two and went 6.2 innings, scattered only four hits, allowed three runs and tallied four strikeouts. Josh Kreider came on in relief and tallied 2.1 scoreless innings and allowed only one hit as the Golden Wolves forced a game three. 

Ramundo led Alvernia in game two with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored, Smith also tallied two RBIs and two hits and Fitzgerald recorded two hits and an RBI. 

The Golden Wolves are back in action tomorrow when they take on the Lions in Angelica Park for game three with the ECAC Championship on the line. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 AM.