Abegg’s Walk-Off Single Caps Lions’ Florida Trip With Victory

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Evan Abegg (Commerce City, Colo./Prairie View) delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two as the Penn State Brandywine baseball team rounded out its Spring Break trip with a 5-4 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology on Tuesday afternoon. The Lions dropped the opener of the doubleheader 10-5 to the Leopards.

Game One: Wentworth 10, Penn State Brandywine 5

Brandywine led the opener 4-3 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Leopards plated seven-straight runs during the next two innings to claim the lead for good.

Nick Wright gave Brandywine a 1-0 lead in the first as he led off with a base hit and later scored via Wentworth error.

The Leopards evened the count during the bottom of the first and took a 3-1 lead with a pair of second inning runs, but Brandywine jumped back in front by putting three runs on the board in the fifth. The Lions did all of their damage with two outs as three-straight base hits, capped by a Kyle Oechsle (Coopersburg, Pa./Palisades) RBI hit brought Brandywine within one. Consecutive wild pitches allowed Tyler Brooks (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) to cross home with the tying run and Oechsle to score the go-ahead run.

Wentworth countered with a three-run inning of its own in the fifth with runs scoring via Brandywine error and a pair of bases-loaded walks. The Leopards added four insurance runs during the sixth inning.

Brooks and Nick Wright (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) both recorded two hits and scored twice, while Oechsle singled, knocked in a run and scored once. Connor Thompson (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) struck out two, but allowed six runs (three earned) in 4.2 innings on the mound and suffered the loss.

Game Two: Penn State Brandywine 5, Wentworth 4 (8 innings)

Brandywine rallied from three runs down in the nightcap to finish its trip to the RussMatt Invitational with a 2-2 record.

Trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Brandywine struck for three runs. Consecutive singles by Brooks, Abegg and Oechsle to begin the frame loaded the bases. Run-scoring groundouts from Hayden Altimari (Dix Hills, N.Y./St. Anthony) and Shaun Lima (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) brought the Lions within one before Jack Hedger (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) knotted the count with a two-out RBI double to right field.

After two scoreless innings sent the game to extra innings, Greg Adams (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) set the Leopards down in order in their half of the eighth. Wright started a two-out rally for the Lions in the bottom of the inning, sending a double to right field. After Brooks was intentionally walked, Abegg scorched a single to center field, plating Wright with the game-winning run.

Adams fired two perfect innings and struck out one to earn the victory in relief of Dan Nearey (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley). Nearey fanned five and allowed four earned runs on five hits over the first six innings.

Abegg, Brooks and Hedger all tallied two hits. Brooks also scored two runs, while Hedger stole a base.

Brandywine (4-5) hosts Valley Forge Tuesday at 6:00 PM at Maple Zone.