PITTSBURGH, Pa: A big inning seventh inning by the La Roche Redhawks sealed Pitt-Greensburg baseball's fate on Friday, eventually leading to the elimination of the Bobcats from the 2016 AMCC Championships by a 13-0 score.
Pitt-Greensburg's season comes to a close with a 22-19 record while the Redhawks improve to 33-9 on year and continue on to the Saturday's semifinal round.
Things looked good for the Bobcats in the early innings, especially after tallying the game's first three hits. But, the UPG bats would go cold as the game wore on, mainly due to a strong pitching performance from Redhawk starter, Tanner Wilt.
Pitt-Greensburg would also look sharp on the mound with freshman starter, Cam Smith (Mars, PA, Mars Area) allowing just three runs on five hits over the game's first six innings.
The seventh inning would supply most of the afternoon's scoring as the La Roche lineup combined for 10 runs to move atop a 13-0 lead.
Smith would make his exit in the seventh after the deficit swelled to six, making way for Dakota McWilliams (Connellsville, PA, Connellsville), then Bill Minnick (West Mifflin, PA, West Mifflin) to get the Bobcats out of the inning. Adam Dodson (Bethel Park, PA, Bethel Park) stepped in in the eighth for a scoreless inning of relief work, making his school-record setting 18th appearance of the season.
Pitt-Greensburg was held scoreless in the ninth inning, ending the game by the 13-0 score in favor of the Redhawks.
The Bobcats were held to three hits on the morning with Ryan Dodson (Bethel Park, PA, Bethel Park), Anthony Bozzuto (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield), and Matt Germanoski (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City) picking them up.
2016 marked the fourth straight trip to the AMCC Championships for Pitt-Greensburg baseball and saw the squad capture their fourth winning season in the last five years, all under the direction of head coach Anthony Williams.
The Bobcats now bid farewell to a special group of seniors that have redefined the standards for future programs to be judged. This season alone, UPG set a new team record for conference wins after finishing the regular season with a 13-3 record. Individually, the graduating group has played a huge part in re-writing the program's team, season, and career record books.
