PITTSBURGH, PA: The #4 seeded Pitt-Greensburg baseball team dropped a tightly contested 10-8 decision to #1 La Roche College in their opening round game of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Baseball Championships.
The loss drops the Bobcats 23-18-1 on the year and extends their potential path to the Championship game. La Roche improves to 28-10 while advancing in the winner's bracket of the AMCC's double elimination tournament.
Friday's matchup would get underway with the Redhawks opening up a 1-0 advantage after a run in the bottom of the first.
The Bobcats would supply an answer in the top of the fourth, plating a pair of runs to capture a 2-1 lead.
Anthony Bozzuto (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield) would reach first after being hit by a pitch followed by a
Chad Jacob (Bridgeville, PA, Chartiers Valley) single that moved him to third. Jacob's single wouldn't just move a runner into scoring position, but capture the single season total bases record of 100 in the process. He'd surpass
Steve Anderson's record of 99 set in 2012.
Matt Germanoski (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City) would step to the plate next, delivering a double to left field to bring in two Bobcat runs.
La Roche would fire back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to again jump ahead, 4-2
The Bobcats would continue the back and forth trend in the fifth, starting with a
Greg Lynn (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City) one-run single that brought in
Tyler Lilja (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield).
Dylan Pounds (Houston, PA, Chartiers-Houston) and Lynn would score next thanks to a
Matt Moyer (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield) double followed by another Jacob single that brought in the final run of the fifth, giving UPG a 6-4 lead.
Pitt-Greensburg would post another pair of runs an inning later to extend the advantage to 8-4. Pounds would bring in run seven on a sacrifice bunt that scored
Mike Maleski (Pittsburgh, PA, Plum) followed by a Lilja run off an
Anthony Maroadi (North Huntingdon, PA, Norwin) single and error.
The Redhawks would narrow the gap in the bottom of the sixth, bringing in three runs to cut the UPG lead to 8-7.
A scoreless seventh was next, followed by an eighth inning rally by the Redhawks. The Bobcats would collect two outs in the eighth inning but fall victim to a three-run Redhawk homerun that brought us to the 10-8 final score.
The Bobcats combined for 10 hits on the day with Germanoski and Jacob going 2-4. Germanoski would also add a double, a stolen base, and a team-high two RBI.
Starter,
Brandon Rowland (Greensburg, PA, Greensburg Salem) handled the bulk of the work on the bump. He'd supply 5.1 innings and allow seven runs, six earned on nine hits while striking out four.
Joe Stavor (West Mifflin, PA, West Mifflin) stepped in to collect the final two outs of the sixth before making way for Pounds to pitch the final two innings and pick up the loss.
Pitt-Greenburg will now face Mount Aloysius College at 9am tomorrow in an elimination game on the campus of La Roche College. The Bobcats have their backs against the wall and must win to advance to the 3:00 game of the AMCC Championships. UPG took this very same path a year ago to reach the 2014 Championship game.
