Penn State Brandywine Baseball — Penn State Brandywine

Posted: May 05, 2017

Baseball Opens PSUAC Tournament Against Mont Alto Sunday

MEDIA, Pa. -- Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine will begin its trek toward a Penn State University Athletic Conference baseball championship on Sunday morning when the Lions meet Penn State Mont Alto at 10:00 am. Hosted by Penn State Scranton, the tournament will be played on campus at Matt McGloin Field.

Brandywine tied Schuylkill atop the PSUAC Eastern Division standings, but claimed the No. 1 seed after winning two of three games against Schuylkill during the regular season. The teams battled to a doubleheader split during the final day of the regular season as Brandywine clinched the top spot after posting a 3-1 triumph in game one.

Brandywine has reached the PSUAC Tournament during five consecutive seasons, but is still in search of its first conference crown. The Lions started slowly under first-year head coach Vinny Gallo, but rebounded to win 14 of their final 19 games.

During the regular season, Brandywine and Mont Alto did not meet, but Brandywine has won three of the teams' last four meetings dating back to the 2015 season. The Lions have not faced Mont Alto in the postseason during their five-year playoff run.

In 15 conference games, the Lions posted a team ERA of 2.31, while scoring over seven runs per game en route to a 12-3 PSUAC record. Joe Samohod went 3-0 with a 1.33 earned run average and 17 strikeouts in four conference starts. Offensively, John Gorgone batted .425 and drove in 13 runs, while Brett Sheeran was a .417 hitter in league contests.

Mont Alto split 12 conference games this spring, finishing third during the regular season in the PSUAC Western Division. It reached the double elimination portion of the tournament following a wild 9-6, 11-inning victory at Penn State Beaver last Friday in a first round game. Jeremiah Younker leads the Mont Alto offense with five home runs and 30 RBI, while Lowell Singer won a team-best three games on the mound.

Penn State DuBois and Penn State Schuylkill will match up in Sunday's second game. The winners of the two games will play at 5:00 pm, while both losers face an elimination game at 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon. Monday's championship game will be at 1:00 pm.