Brandywine Splits On Opening Day

ASTON, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine and SUNY Cobleskill split a season-opening baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon as Brandywine claimed the opener 5-3 and the Fighting Tigers bounced back to edge the Lions 2-1 in game two.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 5, SUNY Cobleskill 3

Sean Donahue (Ridley, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and Jack Hedger (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) both produced run-scoring triples during the opener. Donahue tallied two of Brandywine's seven hits and knocked in two runs, while Brian Reynolds (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) scored two runs and stole a base.

Joe Hurley (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) tripled and scored on Kyle Oechsle's (Coopersburg, Pa./Palisades) first-career hit, a single, to even the score at 1-1 after one inning. Hedger tripled in Reynolds in the second, but the Fighting Tigers answered with a run in the third to knot the count at 2-2.

Tom Donahue (Ridley, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) led off the fourth inning with a base hit, moved to third on Reynolds' single and stole home to give the Lions the lead once again. Sean Donahue followed with a three-base hit that plated Reynolds, doubling the margin to 4-2.

After Cobleskill got one run closer in the fifth, Sean Donahue legged out an infield single that allowed pinch-runner Dalton Palmer (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) to score an insurance run for the Lions in the sixth.

Ben Mutz (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) closed out the win, striking out two Fighting Tigers before getting Jarrod Williams to fly out to Hurley to end the game.

Mutz claimed the save in relief of Kevin Sessa (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), who hurled the first four innings, striking out three, while allowing two runs on three hits as he earned the victory. Chris Edwards (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) pitched two innings of relief, yielding one run on one hit.

Game Two: SUNY Cobleskill 2, Penn State Brandywine 1

Brandywine loaded the bases with one out during the bottom of the seventh inning, but could only push one run across as the Lions' late rally fell short in the nightcap.

Mutz's sacrifice fly scored Reynolds, who led off the seventh with a single, leaving runners on first and second with two outs, but Diplan Manielvic got a pop up to third base to escape further trouble and give Cobleskill the win.

Ricky Palmer (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) allowed three hits during the first inning, but would settle down and surrender just one more hit during the next five frames; however, the one knock for Cobleskill was a run-scoring triple in the third inning, giving the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Palmer went the first six innings on the mound, fanning three, while Derek Cappadoccia (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains) worked the seventh, striking out one.

Cobleskill added an insurance run during the final frame and three pitchers combined to allow just one Brandywine score. The Lions stranded two runners on base in four separate innings, including the final frame. Hurley and Reynolds both produced a pair of hits in the nightcap.

Brandywine and SUNY Cobleskill will close out the season-opening series Sunday afternoon with another twin bill at Maple Zone beginning at noon.