PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team won their sixth Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships, defeating top-seed La Roche 7-5 in the final game of the series on Thursday.
Score: Penn State Behrend 7, La Roche 5
Records: Penn State Behrend (25-11), La Roche (20-3)
Noteworthy:
* Lions win first AMCC Championships since 2013
* Thomas Zbezinski (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland), Josh Wagner (South Park, PA/South Park) and, Jacob Lindow (Bridgeville, PA/Chartiers Valley) were named to the All-Tournament Team
* Behrend hands La Roche their second straight loss and snaps the Redhawk's six-year winning streak
* The Lions earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for Sunday, May 23
Key Moments:
* The Lions grabbed a two-run lead in the top of the second inning with three runs on three hits
* Colin Harger (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) walked and scored on Isaac Stouffer's (Punxsutawney, PA/Punxsutawney) double to left center
* Zack Bowen (Pittsburgh, PA/Serra Catholic) reached on an error, allowing Stouffer to score to make it 2-1
* Anthony Slate (Hopewell, PA/Hopewell) drove in Bowen with a single to center field for a 3-1 lead
* La Roche tallied two runs in the fourth inning to knot it at 3-all
* Two scoreless innings went by before Behrend scored three runs in the sixth for a 6-3 advantage
* It took a pair of hits and pair of errors to get three more runs for the Lions
* Slate scored the go-ahead run on Wagner's sacrifice fly out in center field
* In the seventh, Braden Paulinellie (DuBois, PA/DuBois) hit an RBI single to add an insurance run thanks to Tanner Cicchini (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair)
* Despite the two-run homer in the eighth by the Redhawks, relief pitcher Ryan
* Hurler Lindow made his eighth start and pitched six innings, before making way to Caleb Caldwell (Frewsburg, NY/Frewsburg) and then Ryan Weaver (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) got the save in the final two innings