McKeesport, PA. – After a last second shake-up with the seeding for the Penn State University Athletic Conference Playoffs, the #2 seed Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball Team (14-13, 11-4) will take on the new #3 seed Penn State Beaver (8-15, 7-8) in the first round on Friday at 1 p.m.
PSUGA played a big game with PSU-Mont Alto on Monday to determine who would host the first round of the PSUAC playoffs and PSUGA took home the 4-3 victory. After falling behind 3-1 early, PSUGA began to slowly chip away tying the game with runs in the fifth and sixth inning before taking the lead in the bottom of the 7th.
With a runner at second and one man out, Pedro Escobar (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy) grounded out to third and Marcos Lopez (Caglas, Puerto Rico/Ramey) moved up to third on the play. He would then score the winning run on an errant throw that gave PSUGA the lead for good.
Luke Padezan (Elizabeth, PA./Elizabeth Forward) pitched his best game of the year on Monday pitching the complete nine innings allowing three unearned runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out four. After suffering some tough luck losses, Padezan collected his first win of the season and came through in the clutch when his team needed him most.
The win guaranteed PSUGA the number two seed in the PSUAC playoffs and a chance to host the first round of the playoffs. The 2018 season marks the fifth time in the last eight seasons that PSUGA has made the playoffs and they will be competing for their fourth title in that eight-year span.
After a shake-up in the seeding, PSU-Mont Alto backed out of the playoffs and PSU-Beaver took their spot as the number three seed. They come in with new life and some momentum after knocking off PSU-Fayette in their final regular season game winning the contest 11-6 to finish the year 8-15 overall and 7-8 in conference play. Matt Capo led the way offensively going 2-6 with three RBI and Scott Hughes finished 1-6 with two RBI. Beaver put together a 10 hit, 12 walk attack to score the victory and end the regular season on a high note.
PSUGA is 13-7 against PSU-Beaver since the 2010 season including two wins this season when they took two out of the three games. After PSUGA dropped the first game of the series 4-2, they came back and won the next two games by scores of 10-7 and 16-6.
First pitch for Friday’s single, seven-inning, game is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Pullman Park in Butler, PA. You can follow along with all the action by following us on Facebook and Twitter as the quest for a PSUAC Championship begins.
