POINCIANA, Fl. - Senior pitcher Paul Keith (Smithmill, PA/Moshannon Valley) hurled a complete game gem in the opener, and freshman Cord Heine (Malvern, PA/Mercersburg) smacked a pair of home runs as the Penn State Altoona baseball team claimed a pair of wins Friday to begin Spring Break week in Florida. 

The Lions beat Drew University 7-2 in game one before cruising past Elms College 8-3 in the second contest.

After allowing a two-run home run in the first inning, Keith settled down and pitched eight scoreless innings while striking out 12 and walking just one.  He scattered four hits on the day and faced only 31 batters.

After Drew took a 2-0 lead, the Lions answered with a Jim Byers (Chambersburg, PA/Chambersburg) unearned run in the second and Heine's two-run blast in the top of the third. 

Altoona clung to a 3-2 lead before adding insurance in the eighth and ninth innings.  Bobby Reece (Levittown, PA/Neshaminy) smacked a two-run double in the eighth that scored Jim Baum (Shermansdale, PA/West Perry) and Chad Snook (Lewistown, PA/Lewistown).  In the ninth, two straight hits followed by an RBI groundout and unearned run via an error helped the Lions to a 7-2 lead.

Reece and RJ Barnard (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) each had two hits for Penn State Altoona.

In game two, the Lions manufactured runs in six of their eight innings at the plate, and sophomore Gerard Vath (Milford, NJ/Delaware Valley) pitched 6 and 1/3 innings to get the win.  Vath allowed only one hit but did walk five Elms batters.

With the game tied at 1-1 after the first inning, Heine hit his second home run of the day in the third and Altoona took advantage of a big Elms error in the fourth to plate two more runs.

After Elms got another run in the top of the fifth, Barnard hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the frame to plate James Stratico (McMurray, PA/Peters Township), making the score 5-2.

With the bases loaded in the seventh, Baum was hit by a pitch that forced in Jim Bennett (Linden, PA/Williamsport).  Altoona got two in the eighth thanks to a Tyler Stiffler (Altoona, PA/Altoona) double that scored Jake Settle (Altoona, PA/Altoona) and Grady Luzier (Forest, PA/West Branch).

Matthew McGrogan (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) pitched the final 2 and 2 and 2/2 innings of relief.

Penn State Altoona improved to 2-2 overall with the pair of wins.