PITTSBURGH, Pa. – La Roche baseball welcomed fans for the first time in 2024, with a home opening, AMCC doubleheader against Pitt-Greensburg. In the seven inning, first game of the day, the Redhawks pulled through to take a 6-5 victory, but in game two, fell to the Bobcats, 15-6.
GAME ONE: La Roche 6 Pitt-Greensburg 5
La Roche wasted no time taking the lead in game one, bringing eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first to open a 3-0 lead.
After a pair of walks and a wild pitch opened the game to place runners on second and third, Brandon Snyder started the scoring with an RBI groundout to make it 1-0.
Three consecutive walks lead to the third being a bases loaded walk to give Samuel DiCicco an RBI, then Christian Melendez closed the scoring with a sacrifice fly that made it 3-0.
Pitt-Greensburg cut the score to 3-1 with an RBI fielder's choice in the top of the second, but the Redhawks got the run back in the bottom of the second, thanks to a Danny Suarez RBI infield single, making it 4-1.
In the bottom of the third, Melendez blasted a two-run homer to left field, upping the lead to 6-1, the final runs to cross for La Roche.
The Bobcats cut the deficit in half in the top of the sixth with a two RBI single, then made it very interesting in the top of the seventh, as an RBI triple and RBI single made it 6-5.
Pitt-Greensburg, however, would leave the tying run stranded at third, as the game ended with a strikeout.
Larry Bielawski took the bump for the Redhawks and in the victory tossed six innings, allowing five runs, nine hits, three walks and struck out four.
Casey Jones picked up the save, pitching the seventh, allowing one hit and fanned the final batter of the game.
Offensively, La Roche had five hits, with five different players all collecting a single hit.
GAME TWO: Pitt-Greensburg 15 La Roche 6
Game two was not as gracious to the Redhawks, as they saw themselves fall behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning, only for that deficit to grow to 10-0 in the top of the second, after the Bobcats plated seven runs.
La Roche's first two runs came in the bottom of the second, in which a balk opened the scoring, then an RBI groundout by Dom Brncic made it 10-2.
After being held scoreless in the third, Pitt-Greensburg plated a single run in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth to build a 15-2 lead.
With the run rule nearing effect, the Redhawks ensured a full nine innings would be played in game two, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Damon Foster drove in the first run, an RBI single to score Jared Hough, then Brncic followed with an RBI double to plate Melendez and the scoring concluded with Tanner Schmitt's two RBI double to score Foster and Brncic.
The final three innings were left scoreless as the game concluded with the 15-6 score that was left through six innings.
Casey Jones took the mound for La Roche and in the loss, lasted just 1.1 inning, allowing 10 runs (five earned), seven hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Chris Tarquinio tossed 3.2 innings of relief, allowing four runs, seven hits, one walk and one strikeout of his own, while Reed Bursic pitched one inning, allowing one run, three hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Jamison Rhoades threw two innings of hitless ball, walking one and striking out three, then Caden Maffitt closed the game with one inning of one hit work with a single walk allowed.
Offensively, the Redhawks had eight hits, as Melendez was the one multi-hit bat with a 2-for-4 showing.
La Roche has a trio of road matchups before returning home on Apr. 6, and it begins with a single nine-inning matchup against Thiel on Wednesday, Mar. 27. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.