JENKINTOWN, PA – Down five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Penn State Abington baseball team surged to tie the game and send it into extra innings.  Julio Aira IV (Miami Fla.) stepped up to the plate and rocked his pitch for a walk-off home run to give the Nittany Lions a 13-12 win over SUNY Poly, and advance to the final four in the NEAC tournament.  Abington improves to 24-11 for the season, tied for the most wins in a season since 2012.

Senior Austin Mikula (Philadelphia, Pa.) made the most of his final appearance at Alverthorpe Park with three hits, two RBIs and two runs to lead the Nittany Lions.

Down early in the first inning, the Nittany Lions got onto the board with a double to right center field by Brett Guaglionona (Abington, Pa.).  Later, Tyler DiPatri (Pedricktown, NJ) tacked on another two runs for the Nittany Lions with a double of his own, giving Abington a 3-2 lead after three innings.

Poly pulled ahead again in the fourth inning, but again the Nittany Lions responded in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted by an RBI single to center field by Mikula.

The Wildcats looked like they had put away the game in the top of the ninth inning with four runs, leaving the Nittany Lions five runs in the hole.

Abington showed incredible resolve in the final inning of the game. Mikula kick started the rally when he smacked a double out to right field to drive in a run.  With bases loaded and no outs, Stevie Stevenson (Westampton, NJ) sliced his pitch to center field to drive in another two runs.  Sophomore Jon Rivera (Egg Harbor City, NJ) added another run stealing third base, and advancing on the overthrow.  Dipatri finished off the rally by tying the game with his RBI single.

In extra innings the Nittany Lions had all the momentum, getting three quick outs to bring up Aira IV. Behind in the count, with no balls and two strikes, Aira IV jumped all over his pitch and earned the walk-off winner.

The Nittany Lions will advance to the final four of the NEAC tournament hosted at Penn State Berks this weekend.  Abington will kick off the tournament against the no. 2 seeded Penn College Wildcats on Friday at 3:00 p.m.