Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Penn State Greater Allegheny baseball team closes their regular season with a Penn State University Athletic Conference double-header over Penn State Mont Alto, Sunday afternoon, as GA keeps their perfect conference record with two wins 18-1 and 13-3.
Game one started out with the first three of Mont Alto's line-up, two of them sitting down off strike-out off senior right-handed pitcher Matt Klena (Allison Park, Pa./Shaler Area). Junior third baseman Clay Groff (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) singled to left center before senior shortstop Aaron McGee (Harrison City, Pa./Penn-Trafford) walked. Senior catcher Troy Ambros (Pembroke Pines, Fla./West Broward) doubled down the right-field line, batting home Groff and putting GA on the board over Mont Alto, 1-0.
Three more Mont Alto batters down before sophomore second baseman Adam Jacko (North Versailles, Pa./East Allegheny) singled to right field. Freshman center-fielder Terance Wroniak (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) sinlged before Groff singled to the shortstop to fill the bases. McGee led the way with a double to center-field, batting home both Wroniak and Jacko. Ambros followed up with another double to center-field, pushing Groff and McGee to score. Junior pinch runner John Nusser (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear) came in for Ambros as he advanced to third on a senior right-fielder Gianmarco Concepcion (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Mercyhurst North East) ground-out. Sophomore first baseman Joshua Arroyo (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Levittown Baptist Academy) walked as sophomore designated hitter Francisco Del Rio (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy) singled to center-field to score Nusser, Greater Allegheny leading 6-0.
The bottom of the third brought more Greater Allegheny tallies as sophomore left-fielder Mark Hollis (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) singled to right-field while both Wroniak and McGee walked, filling the bases. Ambros walked to bring in Hollis before Nusser came back in to run for Ambros. Concepcion was hit-by-pitch to score Wroniak before Arroyo singled to center-field, bringing home McGee, GA 9-0. Both Del Rio and Jacko singled to right-field, batting in both Nusser and Concepcion, Greater Allegheny sitting atop Mont Alto, 11-0.
Mont Alto managed to get on the board in the top of the fourth inning before GA came back to bat. Freshman pinch hitter Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) singled to right-field before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Nusser and McGee both walked as Ambros and Concepcion each singled to right-field, scoring Ernst and Nusser. Arroyo was hit-by-pitch to push McGee home. Del Rio doubled to center-field to score both Ambros and Concepcion. Although Hollis grounded-out, he scored Arroyo. Ernst finished up the bottom of the fourth with a single down the left-field line, Del Rio tallying the 18th run in game one, holding Mont Alto scoreless in the top of the fifth, 18-1 GA.
Klena threw five complete innings, posting his 6th win on the mound. Through 16 batters, the senior delivered 63 pitches, 38 being strikes. He allowed just two hits and one run while sitting down four on strike-out. Ambros finished game one hitting 3-for-3 with five RBIs and one run. Del Rio hit 3-of-4 with four runs batted in and one tallied himself. Ernst went 2-for-2 with one run and an RBI as Groff went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. McGee went 1-for-1 in the batters box with three runs scored and two runs batted home.
Game two started off with two Mont Alto runs to put Greater Allegheny at the deficit for the first time through the day. Groff doubled to right-field before McGee doubled dowjn the left-field line to push Groff to score. Ambros walked before Concepcion doubled to right-field, pushing McGee to even the score at two. Both Arroyo and Del Rio singled to right-field to score Ambros and Concepcion. Nusser came in for Del Rio before Klena singled down the right-field line, filling the bases. Groff hammered a triple to right-field to score Klena, Nusser and Arroyo, GA now leading 7-2.
Mont Alto added another run in the top of the second before Greater Allegheny came back to bat in the bottom of the third. Hollis singled down the right-field line as McGee doubled to center-field to score Hollis. Ambros walked before he stole second as Concepcion batted him home off a double to center-field. Arroyo singled to center-field, adding Concepcion to the run total, GA 10-3.
Klena singled down the right-field line before Hollis doubled down the left-field line in the bottom of the fourth. Groff grounded-out to score Klena, 11-3.
The bottom of the fifth brought another Greater Allegheny run, as both Ambros and Arroyo were hit-by-pitch before Del Rio reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Ambros, 12-3.
The tenth run over Mont Alto came in the bottom of the sixth inning after Jacko walked, Hollis singled to left-center and Groff was hit-by-pitch. McGee sacrifice flied out to center-field, scoring Jacko and marking the 13th run of the second game, GA victorious 13-3.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Dan Daly (Glassport, Pa./South Allegheny) earned his second win on the mound as he pitched four innings, allowing zero runs. Through 18 batters, Daly threw 60 pitches, 38 of them being strikes. McGee went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run scored through the second game. Klena went 2-of-3 as he scored two runs himself. Concepcion hit 3-of-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Hollis also hit 3-of-4 with one run marked. Groff hit 2-of-4 with one run and four RBIs.
The Greater Allegheny Lions (26-6, 16-0 PSUAC) finish their regular season with an undefeated Penn State University Athletic Conference slate, winning all 16 contests, beside ten others. The men are now Penn State Mont Alto bound for PSUAC Playoff action. The men are set for contest on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. against #4 seed Mont Alto.
