LA ROCHE, MOUNT ALOYSIUS PUNCH THEIR TICKETS TO AMCC BASEBALL SEMIFINALS

On day one of the first round of the AMCC Baseball Championship Tournament, #1 La Roche University and #3 Mount Aloysius College have each punched their tickets to the AMCC Semifinals, slated for Thursday, May 13. La Roche will face the winner of #4 Alfred State University and #5 Penn State Altoona, which has been postponed to Sunday, May 9 at 12:00 pm. Mount Aloysius will face the winner of the #2 Penn State Behrend and #7 Pitt-Bradford series. The Lions and Panthers split on Saturday afternoon and will return to action on Monday for the final game of the series.

The La Roche University baseball team swept Medaille College in the AMCC Quarterfinals Saturday afternoon in a best-of-three game series. The Redhawks took game one 9-0 and game two 8-1. LRU will host either Alfred State or Penn St. Altoona on Thursday, May 13 in the AMCC Semifinals in another best-of-three game series. The winner will advance to the AMCC Championship.

Game One - La Roche 9, Medaille 0

La Roche got their third shutout win in a row and fifth of the season in game one. Jake Seymour pitched his fifth complete game of the season, got his fourth shutout and improved to 6-0. In 7.0 innings pitched, Seymour posted 10 strikeouts, three walks, two hits and no earned runs. The AMCC Pitcher of the Week has given up just two earned runs in 41.0 innings pitched this season. His 0.44 ERA is the best in the conference. As a unit, LRU went 11-29 (.379) at the plate. In comparison, Medaille batted 2-21 (.095).

Game Two - La Roche 8, Medaille 0

La Roche scored six of their eight runs in the first four innings, led by a three-run fourth. Tristan Tinney got the start on the mound in game two and moved to 5-0 on the season. In 5.0 innings pitched, Tinney posted a career-high 11 strikeouts, one walk, two hits and no earned runs. Zach Oddi, Jackson Rogers, Shawn Marcellus and Mike Nuzzo all came in for relief (in that order) and pitched an inning. Oddi gave up the only Medaille run of the day, but was able to strikeout the last two batters with the bases loaded to get out of the jam. Aa a team, LRU went 11-33 (.333) at the plate while Medaille went 7-34 (.206).

#2 Penn State Behrend d. #7 Pitt-Bradford, 6-0
#7 Pitt-Bradford d. #2 Penn State Behrend, 5-4

Game 1 - PS-Behrend 6, Pitt-Bradford  0
 
Behrend junior Thomas Zbezinski threw his first collegiate no-hitter, becoming the third pitcher in program history to accomplish this feat. The last time Behrend had a no-hitter was in 2013 by Ryan Jacobs. A total of 13 batters combined in both games were hit by a pitch.

Zbezinski struck out nine along the way to the no-hitter to improve to 5-1 on the mound. Josh Wagner smacked a three-run double in the bottom of the fourth to break open the game for the Lions. Behrend got two across the plate in the third inning, one on a hit by pitch with bases loaded and the other on a passed ball for the early 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Wagner hit a bomb down left-field line to score three and make it 5-0. The Lions added the final run in the fifth on a Braden Paulinellie ground out with bases loaded to send home Isaac Stouffer. Anthony Slate led with a pair of hits and two runs.

Game 2 - Pitt-Bradford 5, PS-Behrend 4

Pitt-Bradford took the lead first and ended with the lead in game two. The Panthers scored the game-winning run in the top of the ninth with two-out single by Nico Hall to score Evan Fragela. Behrend sandwiched four runs in between the Panthers five, taking a quick lead in the seventh. Down 3-0 after the second, the Lions got on the board with a two-out RBI single by Wagner to score Jacob Deitz. Deitz was instrumental in the runs scored in the fifth, leading off with a strikeout but advancing two bases on a wild pitch. Zack Bowen then tripled to center field to score Deitz and came home on a sacrifice fly by Paulinellie to tie the game at 3-all. Behrend grabbed a 4-3 in the seventh with back-to-back doubles, one by Paulinellie and the other by Slate. Pitt-Bradford got the game even once again with a run in the eighth before getting the final run in the ninth.

Behrend returns to action on Monday for the final game against Pitt-Bradford. Winner advances to the AMCC Semifinals on Thursday. Game time for the single-nine inning game is 1 p.m.

#3 Mount Aloysius d. #6 Pitt-Greensburg, 9-7, 3-2

Mount Aloysius College brought the Pitt-Greensburg baseball season to an end Saturday afternoon as it defeated the Bobcats in the first two games in a best-of-three series in the first round of the AMCC Tournament. The Mounties won the first game of the day by a score of 9-7 and would edge the Bobcats once again in game two by a score of 3-2.

Game 1 - Mount Aloysius 9, Pitt-Greensburg 7

Pitt-Greensburg outhit Mt. Alosyius in game one holding a 15-13 advantage, but the two errors defensively would be costly for the Bobcats.

Pitt-Greensburg got out to a quick 4-0 lead in their first at-bats. However, in the bottom of the second, Mount Aloysius' Cody Smith singled up the middle, bringing in two runs to make it 4-2. Greensburg scored two more runs in the top of the third to widen the lead to 6-2. Smith then picked up another RBI for the mounties in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-3. The Bobcats scored their final run of the game in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 7-3. The Mounties started to come back in the bottom of the fifth on an Aidan Bell double that brought three runs home to close the gap to 7-6 heading into the sixth inning. Mount Aloysius scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for the first time in the game and to set the final score.

Game 2 - Mount Aloysius 3, Pitt-Greensburg 2

Following a scoreless first inning for both teams, Mount Aloysius scratched across a run in the second for a 1-0 lead, but the Bobcats got the run right back in the third. The Mounties added a second run of the game in the home half of the fourth, but the Bobcast would once again score in the fifth to tie the game up.

The game would remain deadlocked at two until the bottom of the eighth when the Mounties' Smith finally would break the tie with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Trap Wentling take a 3-2 lead to the ninth.

#4 Alfred State, #5 Penn State Altoona

The AMCC Baseball Tournament quarterfinal series between Alfred State and Penn State Altoona has been pushed back a day. The best of three series will now start on Sunday. First pitch on Sunday is slated for Noon. The first game of the three game series is a 7-inning game while game two is a 9-inning contest. If necessary game three would be played on Monday.