McKeesport, PA. – After having a tough series last week, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball team (9-11, 4-5) is looking for a bounce back effort when they take on Penn State Beaver (9-14, 2-7) on Friday at 2 p.m. The offense has been on the rise as of late scoring a combined ten runs in the team’s last two games and that offense looks to continue rolling as the Penn State University Athletic Conference playoff push comes down to its final two weeks.
It was a hard fought battle on Tuesday when PSUGA took on Bryant & Stratton College in non-conference play when they fell 17-6. After the Bobcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead after five innings, PSUGA got on the board with a three-run bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 8-3. However, Bryant & Stratton College would strike again adding six more in the top of the eighth forcing PSUGA to fight to keep the game alive.
They got an RBI single by Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) to start the inning and followed that with a two RBI double by Diego Marzan (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Leadership Christian Academy), but it wasn’t meant to be as PSUGA couldn’t add anymore and fell in eight innings. The loss dropped them to 9-11 on the season but the offense did show some promise as they head into the final two series of conference play.
The leader of the pack has been Ernst hitting out of the four-hole. He currently sports a 16-game on-base streak and is hitting .617 (8-13) over his last four games. He was the offensive leader for PSUGA against Bryant & Stratton finishing the day 3-4 and driving three of his team’s six runs on the day. He leads the club hitting .491 this season and is tied with teammate Brett Yuhas (Munhall, PA./Steel Valley HS) for the lead in RBI with 15.
Driving in the other half of PSUGA’s runs was Marzan who entered the game in the sixth inning as part of a double switch and went 2-2 with three RBI in the game. It was the first multi-hit game of Marzan’s career and he has been on fire raising his average from .143 to .235 over the course of the weekend and becoming a very reliable back-up to Brian Koglin (Fox Chapel, PA./Fox Chapel HS) behind the plate.
PSU-Beaver enters Friday’s game on a similar trend only having won one of their last five games. They picked up a win in their series finale against PSU-New Kensington last time out grabbing a 15-9 win. After being shutout in the first inning, they went on to put at least one run on the board in every inning from there on out. Scott Hughes led the way going 4-4 with an RBI while Jacob Beck added a 2-5 day with 5 RBI in the win.
Last season, PSUGA picked up a series win over Beaver taking two out of three which catapulted them into the PSUAC playoffs for the fifth time in the last nine seasons. With many of last year’s players returning this season, PSUGA is looking to continue the success as they once again fight for a spot in the PSUAC playoffs.
First pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. at No-Offseason sports in Tarentum, PA. Come cheer on your Lions at 1590 Saxonburg Boulevard right across the street from the main facility.