Ninth-Inning Rally Falls Short For Lions Against Eastern

ASTON, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine put the game-winning run on first base with two outs in the ninth inning, but the Lions' final-inning rally ultimately came up short as Brandywine was defeated by Eastern University in a pitchers' duel, 2-1, on Wednesday night.

Trailing 2-0 entering the ninth, Brian Reynolds (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) got the inning started by working a base on balls. Nick Wright's (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) base hit moved Reynolds to third one batter later. After a ground out left runners on the corners, Jack Hedger (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) lofted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Reynolds. An Eastern error extended the inning and allowed the tying run to reach third base, but Steve Sattanino got a ground out to end the Lions' threat.

Brandywine suffered the setback despite eight strong inning on the mound from starter Nick Petrella (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley). Petrella limited the Eagles to three hits and struck out seven, throwing 70 of his 110 pitches for strikes. Chris Edwards (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) pitched a scoreless ninth inning in relief of Petrella.

Eastern plated a run on a fielder's choice in the first inning and added what turned out to be the game-winning run in the sixth when a leadoff triple led to a sacrifice fly two batters later.

Brandywine outhit Eastern 8-4 and put a runner on base during all nine innings, but could not push a run across until the final frame. Wright and Joe Hurley (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) both tallied a pair of hits for the Lions.

Brandywine (10-11, 2-4 PSUAC) returns to conference play on Thursday at Maple Zone against Penn State Hazleton at 5:00 pm.