DAVENPORT, Fla. – Penn State Altoona baseball played in its fifth game day of the week in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Friday, when the Lions were swept in a doubleheader with Bowdoin College at Northeast Regional Park.

Penn State Altoona (5-7) narrowly avoided being no-hit in game one, and a late rally came up short in a 4-3 loss to Bowdoin (8-0). The Polars Bears proceeded to win in more convincing fashion in game two, when they dealt the Lions a 9-1 loss.

Game One: Bowdoin 4, Penn State Altoona 3

Bowdoin carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but Penn State Altoona broke it up with a one-out hit. The Lions got three runs across in the bottom of the seventh, but the Polar Bears held on for the one-run victory.

Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was 1-for-3 with a run scored, Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall) was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI, and Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Bryce Smith (Elliottsburg, PA/West Perry) had a pinch-hit single and scored a run.

Eric Seick (Mount Laurel, NJ/Camden Catholic) pitched a complete game for the Lions and suffered the loss. In seven innings, the right-handed yielded four runs and recorded three strikeouts.

Bowdoin got on the board in the bottom of the third, courtesy of an RBI double to center by Will Bordes. Bordes struck again in the fifth, when his run-scoring single to left made it 2-0.

The Polar Bears increased their lead to 4-0 in the sixth, as Liam Foley's RBI double and Grant Collins' RBI single put Bowdoin up by four runs.

Penn State Altoona broke up Bowdoin starter Alistair Rose's no-hit bid with one out in the bottom of the seventh, when Green reached on a bunt single, sparking a late rally by the Lions. Smith followed with a pinch-hit single to center, and Chelli came next with an RBI base hit into right field that scored Green. A fielding error by the right fielder on the play allowed Smith to score, trimming the Bowdoin lead to 4-2. Hillard made it a one-run game in the next at-bat, getting a base hit to left that scored Chelli, closing the gap to 4-3.

But a double play ended the inning, and Bowdoin finished with a tight win.

Game Two: Bowdoin 9, Penn State Altoona 1

Game two of the doubleheader remained scoreless until the fourth, when Penn State Altoona scored the first run. But Bowdoin put three on the board in the fifth, then broke the game open with a six-run sixth to defeat the Lions by eight.

Joe O'Connor (West Grove, PA/Avon Grove) had two of the Lions' four hits, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) and Hillard were both 1-for-2.

Hillard's hit represented the 200th of his collegiate career, and he became the third player in Penn State Altoona baseball history to reach 200 hits in a career with the Lions.

Eli Wiles (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) made a strong start but was saddled with the loss, going five innings, allowing three runs, and striking out three batters. Sean Wing (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) tossed 2/3 inning in relief, and Brycen Flinton (Denver, PA/Cocalico) pitched 1/3 inning. 

The Lions got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning, when O'Connor led off with a base hit to left and later scored on a wild pitch.

But Bowdoin jumped ahead with a three-run fifth. Bordes' two-run single to right put the Polar Bears in front, and Lukas Tsai's RBI infield hit made it 3-1. Bowdoin tacked six more runs on to their total in the sixth, going on to defeat Penn State Altoona 9-1.

Next up, the Lions will compete in their final day of their Florida trip tomorrow, Saturday, March 15, when they take on Hope College in a doubleheader at Northeast Regional Park. Game one start time is 9 a.m.