McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball Team (9-11, 6-3) entered the weekend in fourth place in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division and needed a series win over PSU-Beaver to get them back in playoff position. They did everything they needed to do collecting the series victory and moving into that pivotal number three spot in the PSUAC West Standings.
Game one of the series was full of missed opportunities for PSUGA when they left 13 batters on base. They scored two runs in the top of the first to jump out to the early 2-0 lead on a RBI single by Zack Pollack (Cecil, PA./Cannon-McMillan) and a steal of home by Pedro Escobar (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy). Beaver then responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half to take a 3-2 lead.
They added one more run in the bottom of the third to take the 4-2 victory. Pollack had a big day at the plate going 3-5 with 1 of his team’s two RBI on the day. Caleb Smith (Irwin, PA./Norwin) had his best day in a PSUGA uniform finishing 3-4 and reaching base four times thanks to a walk.
PSUGA came into Saturday’s contest looking to correct their mistakes from the previous day when they left 13 men on base. They would do just that as their bats came alive to score a combined 20 runs between the two games as they swept the doubleheader and took the season series from PSU-Beaver.
PSU-Beaver jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before PSUGa got their bats going and put together a four-run bottom of the third. Pollack, Josh Arroyo (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Levittown Baptist Academy), and Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport) lined back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles to start the inning and give PSUGA the lead at 4-2.
Beaver would fight back to tie things up, but it would be Ernst who provided the knock-out blow with a two RBI triple that gave PSUGA an 8-5 lead. Beaver would try and mount one more comeback putting up two in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as PSUGA was able to hold on for the victory.
Game two saw PSUGA explode to an early 10-0 lead through the first three innings. PSUGA would score at least one run in every inning on their way to implementing the 10-run rule winning 16-6. Arroyo continued his big day at the plate finishing 3-4 with 3 RBI. He combined to go 4-5 with 4 RBI on the day and now sits three RBI away from plating 100 runs in his collegiate career.
With the series win, PSUGA now sits at 6-3 in PSUAC play and find themselves clinging to third place in the PSUAC West as the race comes down to the final week of the season. With games against PSU-Fayette, PSU-DuBois, and PSU-New Kensington to close the season, PSUGA will look to continue to string together offense as they race for the PSUAC Playoffs.
PSUGA is back in action on Sunday when they battle PSU-Fayette at 12 p.m. at Pullman Park in Butler, PA. It will be the final of the season series with Fayette as PSUGA looks for a sweep after winning 4-1 and 5-1 in the previous two matchups.
