Tarentum, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball Team (11-13, 6-7) picked up a big conference win in their series opener with Penn State New Kensington (3-16, 2-11) winning 11-3 at No-Offseason sports. It was a big day for junior Brett Yuhas (Munhall, PA./Steel Valley HS) who drove in seven of his team’s 10 runs in the game including a mammoth three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh that opened things up.
It was a close game through the first two innings with neither team being able to find their way on the board. It wasn’t until the bottom of the third that PSUGA found their way on the board after a Jordan Williams (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport HS) one out triple. Pedro Escobar (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy) would follow him up with an RBI single, and PSUGA was out to a 1-0 lead.
Two batters later, Yuhas’s big day would begin as he came through with runners on first and second and two out lining a two-RBI double to center extending the PSUGA lead to 3-0. Randy Berroa (Harlem, NY./Norman Thomas HS) drove Yuhas home with a double of his own the very next batter and PSUGA found themselves out in front 4-0 after three. New Kensington would get their two of their three runs in the top of the fifth on an error and the PSUGA lead was cut to 4-2.
PSUGA took advantage of a New Kensington mistake in the bottom half of the fifth when Yuhas drove in Escobar on an RBI single and PSUGA went ahead 5-2. A sacrifice fly by Diego Marzan (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy) gave PSUGA another run in the bottom of the sixth before the big blow one inning later.
Escobar led off the inning with a double and Brian Koglin (Fox Chapel, PA./Fox Chapel HS) was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out for Yuhas. He would take a 2-1 pitch low and outside and drive it over the center field wall for his second home run of the year opening up the PSUGA lead to 9-2 after seven innings. PSUGA got two more insurance runs in the eighth, including an RBI single from Yuhas, and PSUGA was able to close out the game picking up a crucial win and improving to 6-7 in conference play.
Yuhas led the offense going 3-4 with his seven RBI and was one of three PSUGA players to collect three hits in the game. Teammates Escobar and Ernst went 3-5 and 3-4 respectively with one RBI a piece. Marzan and Berroa each added an RBI in the win and Marcos Lopez (Caglas, Puerto Rico/Ramey HS) picked up the win with three innings of shut out relief giving up just two hits.
With two more games left on the regular season schedule, PSUGA has to focus on trying to win out to help guarantee them their sixth trip to the PSUAC playoffs in the last ten seasons. They need to just do one game better than PSU-Fayette does in their series against Mont Alto, which kicks off on Friday.
PSUGA Baseball wraps up their regular season on Monday when they take on PSU-New Kensington in doubleheader action with the first game at 2 p.m. and the second game at 4 p.m.