Brad Dierolf batting
4
Winner Penn State Berks PSBM2013 14-23
3
Penn State Abington PSAM2013 22-21
Winner
Penn State Berks PSBM2013
14-23
4
Final
3
Penn State Abington PSAM2013
22-21
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Penn State Berks PSBM2013 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 4 9 2
Penn State Abington PSAM2013 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 5 1

W: Kurtz, Logan (2-4) L: Parave (3-3) S: Marcin, Christian (4)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball takes down Abington to reach NEAC title game

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 4, 2013) - The Penn State Berks baseball team continued its run through the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Tournament by eliminating No. 2 seed Penn State Abington and reaching the championship game.

The Nittany Lions will square off in the title game against Penn State Harrisburg, the No. 3 seed, tomorrow at 10 a.m. Berks will need to beat Penn State Harrisburg two times to win their third straight conference crown.

Logan Kurtz pitched a career-high 8.0 innings, scattering five hits and surrendering three unearned runs. Kurtz also recorded a career best three strike outs.

Abington was able to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after taking advantage of a Berks throwing error. Kurtz allowed one hit in the second inning before settling in and not allowing another hit over the next 3.1 innings of work.

Berks evened the game at 2-all in the top of the fourth inning when Ryan Tantala was hit by a pitch and Brad Dierolf followed with a two-run homer to left field. The Nittany Lions went ahead 3-2 in the sixth when Tantala hit his second homer of the year with a solo shot to right. It was the second multi-homer game of the season for Berks.

Abington evened the game in the bottom of the sixth after a few miscues by Berks. Tom Ditro reached on an error, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on an RBI single by Pat Moran.

Josh Spayd doubled down the left field line in the top of the ninth to start a one out rally. Christian Marcin drove in Spayd for what proved to be the winning margin with a single down the right field line.

Marcin carried that momentum into the field with him when he was brought in to close out his second straight game. The sophomore right-hander got off to a rocky start by hitting the first batter. Marcin got the first out with a sacrifice bunt, but the tying run was put into scoring position on the play. The next batter grounded out to short, but the runner advanced and was 90 feet from sending the game into extras. Marcin kept his composure and got a game ending groundout to third base. It was Marcin's fourth save of the season, which made him the single-season leader at Berks.

In the championship tilt tomorrow morning, Berks will look to end a three-game skid against Harrisburg. Harrisburg swept Berks in the regular season and sent them into the loser's bracket of the tournament with a 5-3 victory on Friday afternoon.
 
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