The Mount Aloysius College baseball team opened up their 2022 NCAA Regional appearance on Friday as they battled the Captains of Christopher Newport University. Mount Aloysius was the #3 seed in the regional, as the Captains were seeded second. Despite jumping out to an early lead, the Mounties fell in extra-innings, 4-3.

Tyler Quade pitched a seven-plus, strong innings, in addition to picking up two hits. He received a no-decision for the contest on the bump.
Aidan Bell and Jeremy Iellimo each picked up two hits, while Bell added an RBI, as they helped lead the Mountie offense. Reliever Chris Hasse pitched well out of the 'pen, getting out of two jams and only allowing one, unearned run, over 2.2 innings.

Mount Aloysius came out firing on all cylinders in the first inning. After a leadoff out, Quade, Iellimo, and Bell strung together three straight singles, plating a run and giving them a 1-0 lead. Joshua Brown was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Troy Emert, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring a Iellimo from third and moving Bell to third base. Before the next batter saw a pitch, the Mounties executed a double steal against CNU's lefty starter, allowing Bell to score from third and giving them a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, the Captains got the first two runners on and a sac bunt moved them into scoring position. Quade struck out the next batter and induced a ground ball for the third out, stranding the runners in scoring position. Neither team scored or recorded a hit in the second inning, with only a leadoff walk in the Christopher Newport half-inning being the lone baserunner. A Quade leadoff single in the first was negated on double play ball, in the third inning, before Bell had a two-out single. Brown grounded into a fielder's choice, as the Mounties continued to pressure the Captains. A 1-2-3 inning from CNU got the Mounties back to the plate, in the fourth. Jackson Kozlovac reached base on a two-out error, keeping the Mountie frame alive. He was followed by Trap Wentling, who singled, putting runners at first and second. As the lineup turned over, Tyler Suder ripped another two-out single through the left side, but the inning ended as Kozlovac was thrown out attempting to score, keeping the Mountie lead at 3-0. Quade struck the leadoff batter out in the bottom of the fourth, before hitting a snag. A double and a walk put two runners on, then Quade got a ground ball to third. Emert came up gingerly after fielding the ground ball, allowing all runners to move up safely and load the bases. Quade walked the next batter, making it 3-1 Mounties. He got the next two hitters to ground out, only allowing one more run to score, keeping the Mounties ahead, 3-2. Iellimo tallied the only hit in the fifth inning for both teams, but was left stranded, as the Mounties clung to a one-run lead. The Mounties would go 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. Christopher Newport showed some life, after a fly out to lead off their half of the sixth, they strung together three hits, to knot the score at three. Quade kept them from causing more damage, getting the final two outs and sending the game to the final third. Neither team was effective in the seventh, as only one Mountie batter reached on an error and the Captains went 1-2-3. Mount Aloysius followed with a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. In the Captains' eighth inning, they led off with a single, forcing the Mounties to go to Hasse out of the bullpen. Hasse got the first out on a sacrifice bunt and struck out the next two batters, the second of the two was looking to end the frame, the score still tied at three. In the top of the ninth inning,  pinch hit to lead off for Mount Aloysius and reached base on a walk. Wentling moved him to second, with a one-out sacrifice bunt. The threat ended when Suder hit a rocket line drive right at the shortstop, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth. Christopher Newport threatened in the bottom of the ninth, after a leadoff strikeout, the next batter got on and stole second. The Mounties chose to intentionally walk Justin Bowers, who came into the game with 13 homeruns on the season, setting up a double play. Hasse would pull off some magic, getting the next batter to pop up and a slow comebacker for the third out, to force the game into extra-innings.

The Mounties failed to score in the top of the tenth, only seeing Iellimo reach base after being plunked with a pitch to the helmet. Hasse started the tenth inning strong, striking out the first two batters. With two outs, the Captain batter, Brayden Hodges, doubled off the left field fence. With Hodges at second base, Hasse got a chopped ground ball towards second base. Iellimo fielded it and threw to first base. While the batter beat out the throw, it got past Bell at first base, allowing the runner from second to come around to score, ending the game, 4-3 Christopher Newport.

Mount Aloysius scored all three of their runs in the first inning, before effectively getting shut down over the final nine innings, only picking up five hits. Both relief pitchers in the game were extremely effective. Hassed tossed 2.2 innings, allowing just one unearned run, striking out five batters and allowing just three hits. CNU's Daniel Elliott, who started the game at second base, threw three, no-hit innings, while walking just one batter. Seven of the Mounties' eight hits came from the first four players in the lineup, with Suder picking up one and Bell, Iellimo, and Quade having two a piece.

With the loss, Mount Aloysius moves into the elimination side of the bracket, against the other losing team from Friday's opening round, Kalamazoo, at 11 a.m. Kalamazoo earned the automatic bid from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, earning the #4 seed in the regional, after going 26-11 on the season. The Hornets fell to #1 seed Marietta in the day's first game, 8-7. Mount Aloysius will be the away team in Saturday morning's contest, by way of a coin toss.

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The Penn State Behrend (27-15) baseball team had their season come to an end on Friday following a loss in consecutive games to FDU-Florham (22-19) in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship.

Game 1: FDU-Florham 3, Penn State Behrend 2
With the Lions trailing 3-0, a rally in the final frame came up short as Behrend scratched two across prior to final out. Juston Jones reached on an error to start the inning and was pinch ran for by Anthony Slate. Slate would score on a Mac Ciocco double as the Lions' first run of the game. Chase Palmer entered for Ciocco as a pinch runner and scored via single from Donny Watters. The Devils struck first in the second inning and added two more in the fourth and proved to be all the offense they needed to secure game one as the FDU-Florham starter went all seven. Jacob Lindow went 6.2 innings, logging five strikeouts and holding the Devils to seven hits. Ben Bowen came in for one batter and induced a flyout. ame Two Key Moments:

Game 2: FDU-Florham 6, Penn State Behrend 1
FDU-Florham scattered six runs across four innings while holding the Lions to one run on eight hits. The Behrend run came in the first inning as the Lions opened the game with three-straight singles from Zac Bogats, Zack Bowen and Isaac Stouffer. Jones reached on a fielders choice with Bogats scoring as the lone run of game two. Jeff Zick got the start and went four innings and punched out two. Joe Lang tossed two innings in relief, holding the Devils to just two hits while fanning three.

Watters, Zack Bowen, Jake Deitz, Hunter Jamison each reached safely at least once over the two games to close out their career. Bowen and Ciocco led with three hits over both games.