FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Elizabethtown College came up with two runs in the top of the ninth inning to turn aside Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference preseason favorite Penn State Behrend, 5-3, Monday afternoon at the Lawnwood Complex in Fort Pierce, Fla.

E-town (2-1) and Behrend (2-1) matched runs in the first inning. Tyler Weary singled to lead off the game and stole second. Clean-up hitter Dillon Tagle drove in Weary with a single of his own to give the Blue Jays the early lead. Tagle, 3-for-5 on the afternoon with his team-leading third double, raised his batting average to .556 through three games (5-for-9).

A single from Matt Bittner in the first tied the game and Ryan Kragnes put the Lions in front with an RBI double in the second. Kristopher Davis, starting his first game on the mound for the Jays, settled down after allowing those single runs in the first and second innings. Davis did now allow another run over the next five innings, giving E-town seven frames of six-hit ball. He struck out six and limited the Lions to one free pass. Elizabethtown pitching has given up a total of two walks in 23 innings to start the season.

Looking to recapture its first inning lead, the Blue Jays used back-to-back singles from Kyle Gable and Steve Motika to start the top of the fifth inning. Gable, who stole second, moved up to third on the Motika base knock. That would prove crucial when Behrend starter Dante DeSantis threw a wild pitch, allowing Gable to score the tying run.

DeSantis threw 4.1 innings. At times he had the E-town batters miffed, forcing the Blue Jays into six strikeouts. He walked Matt Reade following the wild pitch and it marked the end of his afternoon.

Junior Jay Condit was given the task of holding the Jays to just one run, but a single by Pat Mulligan loaded the bases before Condit hit Kevin Berkheiser to bring in the go-ahead run.

Elizabethtown collected 13 hits for its first double-digit game of the season, but only two of those came during innings 6-8. Condit and Matt Parnes did their jobs well, giving Behrend a shot to tie the game in the eighth. Kragnes, the inning's first batter, slapped a single into left field against E-town reliever Todd Leister, who was facing his first batter in the game. Kragnes would take advantage of a pickoff attempt gone bad, advancing all the way to third base when Leister overthrew Motika at first.

Leister regained his composure to strike out Evan Bukowski. Bittner then grounded a ball right to Reade at the hot corner for out No. 2. Ryan Geibel spoiled E-town's two-out recovery with a single that brought in Kragnes and tied the game at three.

An error by shortstop Ryan Finnegan and Tagle's double put the Jays in business with runners on second and third with no outs in the top of the ninth. Tim Rosser's ground ball to the right side of the infield brought home Motika with what turned out to be the game-winning run. Rosser now has two game-winning RBIs in three games. He walked with the bases full in E-town's win over La Roche Sunday.

Berkheiser added an RBI single and EC was robbed of a run at the plate that could have made it a 6-3 game. Leister (1-0) made quick work of the Lions in the bottom half of the inning to close out the game. Parnes was on the hill when Finnegan's throw went high, and he took the tough-luck loss on an unearned run.

The first six batters all had a hit for the Blue Jays. Motika had a pair and two runs scored. Berkheiser had three singles in four at-bats, stole a base and was hit by a pitch. Kragnes and Geibel combined for half of Behrend's eight hits.

An off day is in the cards for Elizabethtown Tuesday, before it resumes play Wednesday. The Jays and Westminster (Pa.) play two at the week's midway point.