PITT-GREENSBURG, LA ROCHE EARN DAY ONE VICTORIES IN AMCC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

#2 Pitt-Greensburg and #1 La Roche College both picked up victories on day one of the AMCC baseball championship tournament. #2 Pitt-Greensburg defeated #3 Penn State Behrend 8-3 in the first game of the day, while #1 La Roche earned the 8-2 decision over #5 Penn State Altoona in game two.

Matt Mish's complete game victory propelled the #2 seed Pitt-Greensburg baseball team to an 8-3 victory over the #3 seed Penn State Behrend in the championship round of the AMCC Tournament Thursday afternoon at La Roche College. Mish allowed no earned runs on just seven hits and fanned a career-high 11 batters to earn his fourth win of the season.

The Bobcats struck first as Zack Zimmerman scored in the bottom of the first to give UPG a 1-0 lead. Neither team would score in the second stanza, but in their third at-bats of the game, the Lions plated two runs on three hits and took advantage on an error to take a one-run lead (2-1) to the bottom of the fourth. The Pitt-Greensburg offense would come alive in both the fourth and fifth inning to put the Bobcats ahead for good. Reno Rainey, Mike Parlak, and Mike Dolan each scored for UPG in the fourth inning to give the Bobcats a 4-2 lead. Behrend added another run in the fifth, but three more runs by Greensburg kept them ahead 7-3 going into the sixth inning. Mish allowed just two hits over the final four innings and Parlak gave the Bobcats an insurance run in the eighth inning on an RBI triple as Pitt-Greensburg would defeat Penn State Behrend 8-3. 

In game two, Penn State Altoona jumped ahead with a run in the first while La Roche's Joe Professori tripled and scored in the bottom of the first to knot the game at one. The Lions added another in the second to take the 2-1 lead when Regis Sauer settled down and followed with three straight scoreless innings. The La Roche offense broke out in the fifth inning to earn Sauer the victory. Dylan Urban got things going with a double and Austin Hoffman singled through the right side. Jonathan Melendez came through with a 2-run double to right field, plating Urban and Hoffman with the game-winning run. Melendez scored on a Jon Spina fielder's choice. Three more Redhawk runs in the seventh followed by one more in the eighth set the final score at 8-2.

#3 Penn St. Behrend and #5 Penn St. Altoona will face off in the first elimination game Friday at 10 a.m. with #1 La Roche and #2 Pitt-Greensburg to follow at 1 p.m.