FROSTBURG, Md: The Pitt-Greenburg baseball team fell in their final postseason tune-up to 17th ranked Frostburg State University 8-4, but senior starter, Brandon Rowland (Greensburg, PA, Greensburg Salem) and his five strikeouts set a new school season best with 59 K's.
Rowland surpasses the record of 57 set just a year ago, by Bobcat junior Billy Elliott (Ligonier, PA, Ligonier Valley).
The loss drops the Bobcats to 22-17 before entering the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference while nationally ranked Frostburg improves to 30-10.
Pitt-Greensburg looked sharp in the early innings, especially with Rowland holding the home team scoreless over the first three innings. During that span the Bobcats would jump out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to single runs in the first and second innings. A Ryan Dodson (Bethel Park, PA, Bethel Park) fielder's choice would net the game's first run and a Greg Lynn (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City) RBI-single secured the second.
Frostburg replied with three runs in the fourth to move ahead 3-2, but a Matt Germanoski (Ellwood City, PA, Ellwood City) groundout would score Dylan Pounds (Houston, PA, Chartiers-Houston) a half inning later to knot the score at 3-3.
Frostburg would once again answer, picking up a pair of fifth inning runs to move back in front by a 4-3 score.
The cat-and-mouse game continued into the sixth, with a Pounds sac-bunt scoring Lynn for the second tie of the game at 4-4.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, that's where the offense stopped and with four more runs by Frostburg over the seventh and eighth innings, it sealed the 8-4 road defeat.
UPG outhit their counterparts 10-6 on the afternoon with Lynn, Chris Common (Trafford, PA, Penn-Trafford), Anthony Bozzuto (Greensburg, PA, Hempfield), and Zack Zimmerman (Derry, PA, Derry) each tallying two. Lynn would also add a double, a RBI, and a pair of runs scored.
Joe Zufall (Bethel Park, PA, Bethel Park) is charged with the loss, moving the freshman to 2-2 on the year.
Pitt-Greensburg now enters the AMCC Baseball Championships as the #2 seed facing #3 Penn State Behrend in a rematch of 2015's semifinal round. First pitch is scheduled for Thursday, May 12th at 1:00pm on the campus of #1 seed La Roche College.
