Baseball: Wildcats Split with PSU Brandywine, Clinch Second Seed for Tournament

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Sophomore Zachary Weil (Kutztown) had four hits including a home run and four RBI as the Pennsylvania College of Technology baseball team split with Penn State Brandywine in its final regular season conference doubleheader Sunday. The Wildcats won 13-7 but struggled offensively in game two losing 7-1. Junior Joshua Longsderff (Columbia) recorded the win in game one. With the split, the team is now 19-13 overall and 16-2 in the Penn State University Athletic Conference. They have clinched the second seed for conference playoffs that start Thursday.   

In the opener, Brandywine put up three runs in the first including a two RBI triple from Gabe Encarnacion. Two errors in the bottom allowed the Wildcats to equalize. 

With two outs in the second, the Lions capitalized on some hit batters and passed balls to score a run and go up 4-3. In the third, Penn College put up seven runs off an error and a bases loaded single from junior Cody Buterbaugh (Conestoga) taking a 10-4 lead. He ended the game 2 for 4 with three runs and an RBI.

Up 10-5 in the fourth, the Wildcats put up a run off an RBI double from sophomore Zachary Buterbaugh (Conestoga). Brandywine chipped away in the next inning with a run off a throwing error making it 11-6.

Zachary Buterbaugh ended the game 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBI.

Weil hit a two-run shot to dead center in the fifth giving Penn College a 13-6 cushion. He finished the game with three hits and three RBI. Freshman Derek Umstead (Linden) pitched the final two innings giving up an unearned run with three strikeouts. Longsderff recorded the win going five innings with four earned runs and three strikeouts. As a team, Penn College totaled 14 hits. Freshman Rantz Mahaffey (Linden) had two hits and an RBI.

In game two, the Lions scored three runs off of junior starter Brian Santangelo (Middletown, Conn.) in the second inning. Tom Osenbach hit a solo shot in the third to make it 4-0. In the third, Weil cut it to 4-1 with an RBI sacrifice fly. Santangelo allowed two more runs before ending his day with five innings of work. Sophomore John Rodriguez-McKeon (Stroudsburg) finished out the game allowing only one more run in the sixth.

For the game, the Wildcats totaled only five hits with Cody Buterbaugh going 2 for 4.

Next up, Penn College hosts Marywood University for a 3:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Apr. 24