Offense Carries Brandywine To Sweep At York

YORK, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine scored eight runs during the seventh inning to rally for a 10-3 victory in game one and then outslugged Penn State York 14-8 in the nightcap to complete a season sweep of the PSUAC baseball series on Saturday afternoon.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 10, Penn State York 3

Brandywine trailed 3-2 entering its final at-bat of the game, but exploded for eight runs, with the big blow coming off the bat of Brian Reynolds (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown). Reynolds cleared the bases with a go-ahead double, putting Brandywine in front 6-3.

Jack Hedger (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) added a sacrifice fly to score Reynolds. After a single from Sean Donahue (Ridley, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) continued the inning, Nick Kutufaris (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) sped around the bases for an inside-the-park two-run home run to complete Brandywine's big inning.

Ben Mutz (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) collected three of Brandywine's 13 hits, while Reynolds, Kutufaris, Tom Donahue (Ridley, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and Joe Hurley (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) all added two hits. Joey Buoni (Chester Heights, Pa./Salesianum) recorded a pair of RBI.

Hurley also went the distance on the mound, allowing two earned runs and five hits, while striking out two, to claim his first victory of the year.

Game Two: Penn State Brandywine 14, Penn State York 8

Unlike game one, Brandywine was the frontrunner during game two, scoring six times during the first three innings, while collecting 13 hits for the second-straight contest.

Nick Wright (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) went 4-for-5 at the plate with five RBI, including a two-run single that put the Lions on top 3-0 after the first inning. Mutz and Hurley added back-to-back run-scoring doubles in the second to up the margin to 5-1 and  Sean Donahue tallied a RBI single in the third that made the score 6-2.

York pulled back within three, but a five-run fifth inning helped Brandywine maintain control of the game. Mutz plated Sean Donahue with a single and later came around to score on Reynolds' base hit. Wright followed with a double that pushed two more runs across the plate, giving Brandywine an 11-3 edge.

The Lions added on in the seventh with run-scoring hits from Reynolds and Sean Donahue and Wright's fifth RBI of the game on a ground out.

Mutz added two more hits, a pair of RBI and three runs scored, while Reynolds tallied two hits and two RBI. Sean Donahue was the fourth Lion to collect a multi-hit effort, tallying two knocks along with two runs batted in.

Kevin Sessa (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) struck out three batters during the first 5.2 innings to land his first victory of the season. He yielded five runs on seven hits.

Following the three-game sweep, Brandywine moved into fourth place in the PSUAC East Division with three league games remaining on the schedule. The top three teams in the division earn a spot in the PSUAC Tournament.

Brandywine (15-14, 7-5 PSUAC) returns home for Senior Night on Tuesday against Clarks Summit beginning at 4:00 pm at Maple Zone.