University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Athletics2

BRADFORD, PA:  Two big road wins in a conference doubleheader at Pitt-Bradford means seven straight wins for the Pitt-Greensburg baseball team and a fourth place Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference finish.  The 9-8 and 12-9 victories not only kept the Bobcat win streak alive but captures an extremely important home game to open the 2015 AMCC baseball tournament.

2015 marks the fourth straight playoff appearance for Pitt-Greensburg, all under the direction of Head baseball coach Anthony Williams.  They'll host the first round for the third time in four seasons, and for the second straight year in a row.

Pitt-Greensburg improves to 20-14-1 on the year and closes out AMCC regular season play with a 10-6 record.  On the other hand, Bradford falls to 8-14 overall and 7-8 in conference play.

Game 1:
The Bobcats got off to a sketchy start in the opener, giving up four first inning runs to the Panthers.  They'd rally in the top of the third though and tighten the gap 4-3 thanks to a series of Bradford errors that would bring Tyler Lilja (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield), Greg Lynn (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City), and Matt Moyer (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield) all across home plate.

The runs would keep coming in the top of the fourth.  Mike Maleski (Pittsburgh, PA, Plum) would take advantage of a passed ball to score first after reaching base on a double and moving to third on a Dylan Pounds (Houston, PA, Chartiers-Houston) single.  Anthony Maroadi (North Huntingdon, PA, Norwin) would deliver a RBI double two batters later to bring in run five followed by another Panther error on a Lynn hit ball that scored Lilja.  Anthony Bozzuto (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield) would cap the bottom of the fourth with a two-run single that put Pitt-Greensburg up 8-4.

Pitt-Bradford would bring things back to even over the next three innings and knot things at 8-8 in the bottom of the sixth.  Joe Stavor (West Mifflin, PA, West Mifflin) would check in for starter Billy Elliott (Ligonier, PA, Ligonier Valley) and record the final out of the inning after forcing a fly-out to centerfield.

Moyer would lead off the seventh with a double followed by a Bozzuto perfectly placed bunt with no coverage at first to move Moyer over.  That would be all Chad Jacob (Bridgeville, PA, Chartiers Valley) needed to bring Moyer in as he kept the ball in play for the go-ahead run.

Stavor would retire the side in the bottom of the seventh to give UPG the opener by a 9-8 score.

Stavor would earn the win, his first of the season and first of his career thanks to 1.2 innings of no-hit baseball.  Elliot pitched the bulk of the game, going 5.1 innings and allowing eight runs, four earned on 10 hits while striking out nine.

Moyer, Bozzuto, and Maleski each picked up two hits with Moyer scoring two runs and Bozzuto tallying a team-high two RBI.

Game 2: 
The nightcap would see the Bobcats get to work early.  A Bozzuto fielder's choice would cause all kinds of issues as Lynn and Moyer would reach home courtesy of a Panther throwing error.  Singles by Maleski and Pounds would bring in two more runs to give UPG the early 4-0 after the bottom of the first.

Pitt-Greensburg would add three more in the top of the second.  Back to back errors from Pitt-Bradford would bring in runs five and six followed by a Germanoski fielder's choice that scored the seventh.

The Panthers would add single runs in the bottom of the second and third to bring the score to 7-2.

Lilja would provide an answer in the fifth, erasing the two runs with a home run to left field that scored Pounds in the process.  Lynn would bring in another on a RBI double and score one batter later on another Bradford error.  After four and a half the Bobcats would now hold an 11-2 advantage.

Pitt-Bradford would get one back in the bottom of the fifth to get within eight.

Lilja would go back to leftfield in the seventh, sending a solo shot over the outfield fence for the Bobcats 12th run to stretch the Bobcat advantage back to nine.

The Panthers would make things interesting in the ninth plating six runs in total before Eddie Schuessler (Pittsburgh, PA, Carrick) struck out the final Bradford batter for the 12-9 triumph.

Pounds and Moyer would finish game two with 3-5 performances with Moyer once again scoring two runs.  Lilja would provide the power in the nightcap victory with both of his hits leaving the park.  He'd also add a team-high three RBI and two runs scored to his offensive totals.

Brandon Hoener (Pittsburgh, PA, Plum) earned the victory after providing seven strong innings in the start.  He'd allow three runs, two earned on eight hits while striking out two.  Cohl Gibbs (Williamstown, NJ, Williamstown) would chip in with a scoreless eighth before making way for Cody Menges (Belle Vernon, PA, Belle Vernon) and Schuessler to finish out the ninth.

The Bobcats will get back to work tomorrow with a 2:00pm nonconference doubleheader at Bethany College.  They'll then return home for their final regular season tune-up, hosting a 4:00pm game against Otterbein University on Thursday, April 30^th.