Brandywine Wins Two In Return To Action

TARENTUM, Pa. – Penn State Brandywine held off a late charge from Penn State New Kensington in game one and received a go-ahead home run from Hayden Altimari (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Anthony's) in game two as the Lions' baseball team swept Penn State New Kensington by scores of 4-2 and 4-3 (eight innings) during its first action in 366 days Saturday afternoon.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 4, Penn State New Kensington 2

Four runs over the first two innings were enough to give Brandywine a season-opening victory for the fourth-straight year.

The Lions pushed three runs across during the opening frame. Brian Reynolds (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) led off with a double and scored via New Kensington error, while Evan Abegg (Commerce City, Colo./Prairie View) walked and scored when Kyle Oechsle (Coopersburg, Pa./Palisades) reached on a fielder's choice. Oechsle came around to score the third run of the inning on Tyler Brooks' (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) groundout.

Cam Baughman (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) crossed home with the Lions' second-inning run after starting the frame with a single. He stole second, moved to third on Reynolds' single and scored on an Abegg base hit.

Reynolds picked up where he left off last year when he hit .412 (14-34) in 11 games before the pandemic shut the season down as he collected three of Brandywine's six hits and stole a base.

Ricky Palmer (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) went the first two innings on the mound to earn the win. He struck out two, while Michael Paytas (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) also fired two scoreless innings. Abegg did not allow a run in the sixth and Ben Mutz (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) shut the door in the seventh, fanning a pair, to earn his fifth career save.

Game Two: Penn State Brandywine 4, Penn State New Kensington 3 (8 innings)

New Kensington forced extra innings with a two-out run during the bottom of the seventh inning, but Altimari led off the eight with a home run, his second of the game, to lift Brandywine to a 4-3 victory and the season-opening sweep.

Altimari started the scoring with a one-out, solo shot in the second, giving him Brandywine's first two-home run game since Joe Hurley went deep twice in 2019. One inning later, Reynolds' long ball doubled the Lions' lead to 2-0.

The score remained the same until the sixth inning when Tallon Auth's two-run home run tied the score. Brandywine went back in front in the top of the seventh when Oechsle singled in Reynolds, who had led off the inning with a base hit, but New Kensington quickly tied the score during the bottom of the frame on a two-out, run-scoring single from Thomas Santiago.

Six Brandywine pitchers combined to strike out 14 batters during the night cap. Tyler Wright (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) struck out four during two scoreless innings, while Dan Nearey (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) fanned five and also blanked New Kensington for two innings. Matt Brucato (Jamesburg, N.J./Monroe Township) retired the side on strikes in the fifth and both Mutz and Nick Razzano (South River, N.J./South River) whiffed one batter.

Mutz went the final 1.1 innings to record the victory on the mound for the Lions.

Brandywine opens the home portion of its schedule on Wednesday when the Lions host Penn State Beaver in a doubleheader at Maple Zone beginning at 2:00 pm.