HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College baseball team had the second-seeded Penn State Behrend Lions on the rocks in the night cap of the AMCC double header April 24.  After dropping a 8-2 early game, the Hawks played to a 5-3 loss which Behrend battled in for their 21st win of the season.  Joe Pernick was 5 for 7 at the plate as Hilbert dropped to 4-24 overall.

Behrend grabbed an early 2-0 lead after the first inning in the nightcap game.  The Hawks matched the visitor's offense but padded one additional run in the bottom half to hold a 3-2 lead.  Hilbert earned five hits in seven at bats which was started by Paul Wujek's double. Wujek, Anthony Wurstner and Pernick tallied the runs for Hilbert.

Both teams kept each other in check through the 4th until the Lions tied it up after their third batter knocked in the run. 

Roth went 5.2 innings (five walks, four strikeouts, five hits) and held the Hawks in a 3-3 tie when he stepped off the mound. Tyler Wangler got the Hawks out of the 6th inning in tacked.  Hilbert had three hits in the bottom half, but came up empty on the score board.

Behrend hit two doubles and took a 4-3 lead after their first three batters in the top of the 7th.  The Hawks made a pitching change and found themselves in a bases loaded situation defensively.  A bottom-of-the-order walk lead to Behrend's final run crossing home, and after Hilbert's bats went cold, the book was closed.

Pernick went 3 for 3 and John Babocsi finished with a 2 for 3 count at the plate. 

Matt Goraj started with the ball in the opening game and played through 25 batters striking out three while giving up nine hits.  When he joined his team mates in the dugout, Behrend held a 2-1 lead.  Hilbert got on the board in the bottom of the 4th with a rally that started with a Pernick double.  After Kevin Moore singled to the shortstop and Pernick moved to third, Tom Irish earned a free walk to first.  Now that bases were loaded, Babocsi took one for the team and Pernick trotted home.

After a quick Hilbert change on the mound, Behrend tacked on three runs in the 5th and were on a roll.  The Hawks got out of the inning when Bonafede made an incredible foul-ball catch into the fence on the first-base line.  It took four people to peal him out of the metal so that he could away from the collision. 

And as they did one inning earlier, the Lions pushed three runs home off a single through the right side then followed with a 2RBI single. 

Hilbert made a last ditch effort in the bottom of the 7th when several different pinch hitters and pinch runners entered the line-up.  Tyler Shaw and Sean McGrath singled to the left side just before Tyler Sulski joined them on the bags after getting hit by the ball.  Pernick knocked home Daniel Christmann, who entered the game on first base as a pinch runner for Shaw. 

With the final out, Behrend swept the Hawks and retained their second seed in the league heading into the last weekend of the regular season.

The Hawks return to action tomorrow when they travel to West Seneca to face D'Youville College.  They close-out their season with a doubleheader non-conference game against the College of Brockport Sunday, April 26th.