McKeesport, PA. – The 2019 Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball season had its fair share of highs and lows but, PSUGA still managed to make the Penn State University Athletic Conference tournament for the sixth time in the last ten seasons. With a new head coach at the helm, PSUGA built the foundation of the next era of PSUGA baseball while keeping the program’s winning tradition alive.
After sweeping their season opening series with Westmoreland County CC, PSUGA made their annual spring trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to tune up for what they would see during conference play. They kicked their trip off with one of their biggest wins of the season when they beat Lackawanna 7-4. That win would kick-off their best spring trip in program history going 3-2 and bringing back an overall record of 5-2.
After taking three more tough non-conference losses, PSUGA would open PSUAC play with a three-game series against Penn State Fayette. After a back and forth game one that saw PSUGA come out on top 9-7, PSUGA would go on to sweep the series finale doubleheader and start 3-0 in conference play. However, they would face the team that was tied with them in the very next series and they would take a sweep at the hands of PSU-DuBois and PSUGA’s record would drop to 3-3 in PSUAC play.
PSUGA would then go on a stretch where they went just 2-7 in their next nine games and their playoff hopes would be thrown into jeopardy. They entered the final series of the year against PSU-New Kensington needing at least two wins in the series to claim the #3 seed in the PSUAC West Division. They would do just that sweeping New Ken and clinching the #3 seed with a 14-0 win where Matt Givler (Coatesville, PA./Coatesville HS) threw a No-Hitter.
However, the playoffs would take PSUGA on the road as they had to take on Penn State Mont Alto. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead early, PSUGA gave up six runs in the bottom of the first and were never able to come back falling 9-1. Despite the early playoff exit, PSUGA built a strong foundation in this new era and looks to continue to build on it for years to come.
Many of PSUGA’s players had big offensive years setting new personal records. Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) led all hitters not only on his team but in the entire PSUAC hitting .394 and was second on the team with one home run and 24 RBI. Brett Yuhas (Munhall, PA./Steel Valley HS) and Brian Koglin (Fox Chapel, PA./Fox Chapel HS) each set career highs in batting average hitting .345 and .392 respectively while Yuhas led the team with 27 RBI. Freshman Jordan Williams (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) came on strong in his freshman season hitting .322 with 13 RBI.
For their efforts, PSUGA Baseball received three PSUAC All-Conference honorees this season. Ernst led the way being named a PSUAC West 1st-Team All-Conference player while Koglin and Williams each earned Honorable Mentions. While Ernst gets set to move on Williams and Koglin will each be returning as strong pillars in the future of PSUGA baseball.
With many new recruits on the horizon the future of PSUGA baseball continues to look bright as they chase the program’s first PSAUC Championship since the 2015 season. With head coach Kenny Creehan leading the way, PSUGA Baseball’s future is looking brighter than ever as they look ahead to the 2020 season.