LA ROCHE, PITT-GREENSBURG TO CLASH IN AMCC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The AMCC baseball tournament continued on a cool, overcast Friday in Pittsburgh, PA as two more teams were sent home and two teams remain as we head into the final match-up tomorrow morning. #3 Penn St. Behrend defeated #5 Penn St. Altoona 9-4 in Friday's opening game to keep their championship hopes alive as Altoona was eliminated from the tournament. #1 La Roche College earned a 6-3 victory over #2 Pitt-Greensburg in the winners bracket to give the Bobcats their first loss of the tournament. The final game of the day saw Pitt-Greensburg pick up a high-scoring 15-11 win over Behrend to send the Lions packing and earn their spot in the championship game Saturday morning.

Behrend (25-16) plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning to stake out the early lead. David Boehme's RBI double down the left field line and Braden Paulinellie's RBI single to center put Behrend up 2-0. They increased their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth, getting an RBI double to right by Holden Stevanus and a two-run single to center from Ian Taylor. Penn State Altoona got on the board in the top of the fifth. With back-to-back Altoona singles, Hunter Breon drove both in with his double to left-center that cut Behrend's lead to 5-2. Behrend got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on Taylor's RBI single to left, and then it increased its lead to 8-2 in the sixth on Scott Sada's RBI base hit up the middle and Ben Ramey's RBI hit to center field. Altoona added two more runs in the top of the seventh and Behrend recorded one more insurance run in the bottom half of the inning to set the final, 9-4.

In game two of the day, the Redhawks struck twice in the bottom half of the first for a 2-0 lead through one. Jon Spina and Austin Hoffman each drew 2-out walks and Jay Novak followed with an RBI single to left field and a 1-0 lead. Gino Quahliero walked to load the bases and Jonathan Melendez came back from down 0-2 to draw a bases loaded walk for their second run of the inning. Pitt-Greensburg got on the board in the sixth inning when first baseman Reno Rainey scored on an unearned run to make it 2-1. La Roche added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a  Joe Professori two-run home run over the left field wall, to go back up 5-1. The Bobcats cut the deficit to two in the top of the seventh with runs by Patrick Aul and Dan Kiester. Spina scored one more run in the 8th to make it 6-3. Professori and Novak each had two RBIs. Spina reached base four times and scored three runs. Thomas struck out six in six innings to improve to 8-1. Seymour pitched two scoreless innings and Emrich earned his seventh save.

The final game between Penn St. Behrend and Pitt-Greensburg was the second elimination game of the day, where both teams had one loss each and were in a win-or-go-home situation. Behrend got things started early with a run in the top of the first by Ian Taylor to take the quick 1-0 lead. Two more runs in the top of the second put the Lions up 3-0 early on. Pitt-Greensburg didn't back down, as they put together a string of hits and put up four runs in the bottom of the second as Tyler Holland, Mike Dolan, Mike Parlak, and Derek Shaw crossed the plate for the Bobcats. A Holland home run and a Lion balk in the bottom of the third gave Pitt-Greensburg a 6-3 lead after three. Two Behrend singles in the fourth plated to more runs for the Lions. Several more singles in the bottom of the fourth for the Bobcats gave them four more runs to give UPG the 10-5 lead. Behrend plated five more over the next two innings while Pitt-Greensburg added another four to make the score 14-10 after six innings. A Mike Dolan RBI single brought in Reno Rainey to give the Bobcats one more run in the seventh while Scott Sada gave Behrend their final run in the eighth to set the final at 15-11. 

La Roche and Pitt-Greensburg will meet Saturday at 10:00 a.m. for the AMCC championship game.