After day two of the AMCC baseball championship, #1 La Roche College and #2 Penn State Behrend are the only two remaining teams, with La Roche remaining undefeated. Below is a recap of Saturday's games.
Pitt-Greensburg 14, Mount Aloysius 4
The Bobcats would get on the board first, starting with a pairof runs in the top of the second inning. Freshman leftfielder Mike Maleski followed a Matt Germanoski single with an RBI-triple to bring in the game's first run. He would then come around to score the second run one batter later on a Tyler Lilja single through the left side. The Mounties would respond with a run of their own in the bottom of the second, when sophomore Ben Legath homered, cutting the UPG advantage in half. They added another run an inning later when Legath flied out to center field, bringing home junior Ian Helsel to knot things up at 2-2.
The Bobcats would break things open in the fourth, beginning with sophomore Dylan Pounds' one run single that put UPG back in the lead. Senior Anthony Maroadi walked to load the bases, followed by junior Greg Lynn's hit, which forced an error, adding another Bobcat run and leaving the bases loaded for junior Matt Moyer. Moyer delivered in a big way, sending a grand slam homerun over the outfield fence to extend the advantage to 8-2. The top of the fifth would see Pitt-Greensburg add three more runs to stretch things to 11-2.
Mount Aloysius capped their offense in the bottom of the fifth inning, adding their final two runs when junior Connor Bowie singled to center field, plating sophomore Bryn Brown and Helsel.
The Bobcats would add another run in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth to set the final score. With the Mounties' loss, they have been eliminated from the tournament.
La Roche 19, Penn State Behrend 4
Penn State Behrend opened the scoring in the top of the third inning when sophomore Brian Bohman grounded out to the shortstop, scoring senior Tommy Kocur. The Redhawks responded in the bottom half of the inning on senior John Watson's ground out that scored junior Dylan Wolsonovich.
The visiting Lions used a pair of two-out singles in the fifth, plating Bohman and senior Nathan Junk to go back on top 3-1. Once again the home squad answered when senior Colin Feikles doubled to the right field wall to tie it up and junior Colin Williamson flied out to center to give La Roche their first lead of the day.
Redhawk senior pitcher Tyler Ferguson got out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth and then La Roche broke it open with a double digit inning. Seniors Matt Sabatini and Watson provided RBI singles and Feikles registered his second two-run double of the game. The Redhawks added seven more runs in the inning and they nearly batted through the order twice. Senior Cory Podvasnik capped off the victory with his second homerun of the tournament.
Penn State Behrend 6, Pitt-Greensburg 5
Penn State Behrend rebounded with a six-run ninth inning after trailing 5-0 in game two to advance to the AMCC Championship game.
The Lions trailed Pitt-Greensburg 5-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth and plated six runs in the frame to steal the victory. After a single from freshman David Boehme to lead off the inning, back-to-back walks loaded the bases with nobody out. Junior Matt Wolczko brought in Behrend's first run on a fielder's choice and Bohman followed with a walk. Junior Ryan Finnegan singled home another run, making the score 5-2 with one out and the bases loaded. Sophomore Brandon Bergstrom added a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to just two. Junior Corey Bowers came up with the clutch game-tying hit with two outs on a single to left field that plated two runs to tie the game. In his second at-bat of the inning, Boehme capped off the comeback victory with a single up the middle that brought home the winning run.
Sophomore Jack Herzing worked eight innings on the hill, piling up nine strikeouts. He allowed only one earned run and six hits. In his second appearance out of the bullpen on the day, senior Connor Semple earned the win after throwing in the ninth inning
Pitt-Greensburg was led by sophomore Dylan Pounds, who finished with a 2-3 performance that included a double, a stolen base, one RBI, and two runs scored.
With the win, Penn State Behrend will advance to the AMCC championship game against La Roche. The Lions will need to defeat La Roche twice tomorrow in order to earn the conference crown. The first game will begin at 10 a.m.