PITTSBURGH, PA – The La Roche College Redhawks are champions of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference! The Redhawks defeated Penn State Behrend 6-4 to win their fourth straight AMCC Championship and their fifth in the past six years. La Roche advances to the NCAA Regional Tournament and will find out their site and seeding tomorrow.
Jon Spina, EJ Trickett and Corey Lazor were named to the AMCC All-Tournament Team.
Starting pitcher Ethan Lewis stranded a runner at second base in the first and then an inning ending double play to end the second.
The Redhawks placed runners on first and second base with no outs in the bottom of the second inning. Mitchell Yard hit a flyout to center to move Joe Professori to third with two outs. Professori gave the Redhawks a 1-0 lead on a Shane Roebuck sacrifice fly. Jonathan Spina continued his timely hitting singling home Ian Velez for a two run lead.
Lewis followed with two hitless frames and La Roche tacked on another in the fourth. Luis Navedo hit a 2-out single to score Roebuck and a 3-0 lead. The Redhawks continued their 2-out trend in the fifth. Professori and Roebuck were standing on first and third when an EJ Trickett doubled to right field scoring both.
Penn State Behrend came alive with three runs in the top of the sixth. All three of their runs came on two outs. Things got interesting in the eighth. Cole Cogley came in relief and struck out the side, however what was the third out was a dropped strike three to keep the Lions alive. Behrend ended up cutting the lead to one but Cogley left runners stranded to preserve the lead.
Trickett legged out an infield single to get things started in the eighth. He moved to second on a Spina sac and then third on a passed ball. Corey Lazor put the Redhawks back up a pair with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Penn State Behrend put men on first and third in the top of the ninth but Shane Emrich got a groundout to third and Velez threw him out.
Trickett went 3 for 4 with a 2-run double and scored. Professori went 2 for 2 with 2 RBI, 2 walks and scored twice. Roebuck had 2 runs and hit in another.
Lewis was terrific on the mound. He scattered 9 hits and 3 runs over six innings. Trey Claar and Cogley each threw an inning of relief and Emrich earned his third save of the year.
The Redhawks are onto their fourth straight NCAA Regional and their fifth in the past six years. La Roche will find out their seed and site tomorrow when the field is announced.