Baseball Headed To DuBois For PSUAC Tournament

MEDIA, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine baseball team is aiming for its first-ever conference championship as the Lions enter the Penn State University Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Division this weekend.

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Champion of the east for the second-straight year under Head Coach Vinny Gallo, Brandywine will face the third seed from the west, Penn State Beaver, in its first game of the double-elimination tournament on Sunday at 12:30 PM. Penn State DuBois, the No. 1 seed in the west, is serving as host for the tournament and will match up with Penn State Wilkes Barre earlier Sunday.

After starting the season 2-8, Brandywine rebounded to win two-thirds of its games over the final two months of the year, including eight of its final 10 contests to conclude the regular season. The Lions posted an 11-4 conference record, edging Wilkes Barre for first place after Hazleton knocked off Wilkes Barre twice on the final day of the regular season.

Brandywine, which has finished as the PSUAC runner-up 12 times in the last 24 seasons, last met Beaver in the postseason in 2016 when Beaver held on in an elimination game to defeat Brandywine 7-6. Matt Masi was one-of-three Lions to record a pair of hits in that game.

Masi, now a senior, has been one of the top power hitters in the league all season, accumulating eight home runs and a PSUAC-best 21 extra-base hits. He leads a Brandywine offense that batted .298 in 12 conference games this spring.

Kevin Sessa is expected to receive the start on the mound for Brandywine in Sunday's first game. His six victories lead all PSUAC pitchers, while he stands fifth in ERA (4.37). Sessa went 5-1, allowing only seven earned runs over 28.2 innings, in seven appearances against PSUAC teams.

A victory over Beaver would place Brandywine in the winner's bracket game against the winner of the DuBois-Wilkes Barre contest at 5:30 pm Sunday, while a loss would send Brandywine into an elimination game against the game one loser at 3:00 pm. The championship game will be played Monday at 1:00 pm at DuBois' Showers Field, with an if-necessary title game to follow at 3:30 pm.