MEADVILLE, Pa. – On the brink of elimination, the Allegheny College baseball squad relied on power hitting and dynamic pitching staff in a pair of Sunday victories over Wabash that sent the Gators to Chilicothe, Ohio and the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament.  Allegheny picked up a 7-0 win in game two, a game resumed from a Saturday rain delay, before picking up a 6-5 win in the decisive third game to win the NCAC Crossover series at the Robertson Complex.

Freshman Chase Boyer picked up where junior Steven Ramsdell left off on Saturday, combining with the junior for a shutout in game two.  Boyer, named Allegheny Male Newcomer of the Year on Tuesday, fired 5.0 innings of scoreless work, only allowing three hits while striking out six to pick up his third win of the season. 

Seniors Brandon Ellis and Eric Brandt bookended the series-clinching win, as Ellis remained undefeated on the year with 5.0 innings of work including six strikeouts, while Brandt pitched 3.2 innings of relief work, striking out three and keeping the Wabash batters away from the lead to earn his second save of the year.

Allegheny ended Sunday with eight extra base hits, including a double by junior Eric Weyant prior to Saturday's rain delay, including four three doubles and two singles in game three.  Senior Mike Pezzone led the Gators in game three, as the reigning D3Baseball.com Team of the Week designee went 2-for-4, both doubles, driving in two runs in both game two and game three to lead the squad offensively. 

Sophomore Joe Killian and freshman Jacob Shick each drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, as junior Adam Bronson brought in two runs in game two to tie Pezzone for the team-high.  Senior Kyle Davis batted 3-for-5 in game two, scoring a team-high three runs.

On Saturday, Allegheny struck first in game two, plating a pair of runs in the first inning.  Weyant launched a single to right, leading off the inning before Davis scored a bunt single to third, moving Weyant to second.  Gray sent a single to right that scored Weyant and opened the scoring in game two.  Bronson followed suit with an RBI single to right, bringing home Davis and giving Allegheny a 2-0 lead.

Ramsdell earned the game two start, only allowing one hit through the first three innings.  After a lengthy rain delay, Ramsdell faced a two-on, one-out situation, but was able to get out the inning with his second strikeout of the afternoon.  Once the game re-commenced, Boyer struck out three batters in the top of the fifth, setting the stage for the Gators to increase their lead in the bottom of the frame.
 
Back-to-back singles by Davis and Killian put two runners aboard with no out in the inning.  Pezzone launched a sharp ground ball to the second baseman, but the underhand toss to the shortstop was not in time to retire Killian, allowing Davis to score and give the Gators a 3-0 lead.

The Allegheny defense began to make an impact in the sixth inning of game two, as Boyer was able to escape a runner in scoring position twice in the inning, catching the first runner stealing before a rundown from a Wabash runner attempting to advance to home from third closed out the inning for the Gators.

Bronson led off the sixth with a double down the left field line, scoring after a single to right center by Murray. After Boyer pitched a scoreless seventh, the Gators plated three runs in the bottom of the inning.  Davis, Killian and Pezzone connected for three consecutive hits, the last of which scored Davis to increase the Allegheny lead to 5-0.  After a sacrifice bunt by Gray, Bronson launched a sharp single up the middle, allowing Killian to beat the throw home for Allegheny's second run of the inning.  Pezzone would later score on a balk.

Boyer would not allow a run to cross the plate in the eighth or ninth, closing out the game with two innings of no-hit work to push the series to a decisive third game.

A second inning sacrifice fly by Shick opened the scoring in game three, as the Gators made a definitive splash in the third inning.  Sophomore Matt Sardini beat out a single to the shortstop, later scoring after a triple to center field by Weyant.  Killian plated Weyant later in the inning after a sacrifice fly.  After a scoreless fourth, Davis knocked a one-out triple to right to put the Gators in position in the fifth.  A double by Pezzone scored Davis and Killian, who was walked earlier in the inning, to increase the Gator lead to 5-0.  A single by Bronson closed the Allegheny scoring, driving home Pezzone to spot Allegheny a 6-0 advantage heading into the sixth.

Wabash rallied for five runs on six hits in the top of the sixth, placing the tying run on second base with two outs.  After Brandt entered the game for junior Paul Vojtek, the inning ended on a relay throw to home, as Brandt fired a throw home to Bronson, who applied the tag to keep the Gators in the lead heading into the seventh.
 
Brandt forced an inning-ending double play in the seventh, striking out two batters in the ninth before Pezzone made an impressive sliding catch to end the eighth.  In the ninth, the senior fired over to first baseman Kyle Davis to pick off the tying run at first for the second out of the inning, striking out his third batter to end the game and send the Gators to the NCAC Tournament.

Allegheny advances to the tourney for the second consecutive year, returning from a one-game deficit in each of the first two NCAC Crossover series, including last year's three-game triumph over the DePauw Tigers.  The Gators will join DePauw, Denison and Wooster in Chilicothe for the tournament, slated to start on Thursday, May 8.