Baseball Looks to Clinch Playoffs vs. New Kensington

McKeesport, PA. – After picking up a big win in the series opener against Penn State New Kensington (3-16, 2-11) on Wednesday, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Baseball team (10-13, 6-7) looks to secure a spot in the Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs in their series finale on Monday. They need to win at least one half of Monday’s doubleheader to secure the number three seed in the tournament.

It was a special day both on and off the field on Wednesday as PSUGA honored their three seniors and one 2+2 player in an on-field ceremony before the game. Dylan Ernst (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport HS), Zach Craven (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS), Marcos Lopez (Caglas, Puerto Rico/Ramey), and Hunter Hughes (Murrysville, PA./Franklin Regional HS) were honored for their work with the team and helping to keep the winning tradition alive that has been established in the PSUGA baseball program over the last several seasons.

Then, sophomore Brett Yuhas (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley HS) would get the offense going with his best game of the year going 3-4 with a home run and a team record seven RBI in the win, driving in more than half of his team’s offense on the day. After his team built a 6-2 lead through the first six innings of play, Yuhas came through with his biggest hit of the season launching a three-run home run over the center field wall to officially put the nail in the coffin and give his team the 11-3 win.

Seven of PSUGA’s nine starters picked up a hit in the game and four of those were extra base hits. Following Yuhas’s big day was Ernst, who went 3-4 with an RBI, and Pedro Escobar (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico/Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy), who went 3-5 with an RBI. Lopez picked up his second win of the season throwing three shut out innings of relief giving up two hits in the win.

The win moved PSUGA to 6-7 in conference play and put them a half game behind PSU-Fayette for the third and final playoff spot. With the final two games of PSUGA’s series with New Kensington on Monday, they are going to have to win at least one of the two games to secure their place in the PSUAC playoffs for the sixth time in the last 10 seasons.

For PSU-New Kensington, they will be looking to play spoiler and generate some offense that they weren’t able to do in the series opener. Sebastien Nelson led the way for PSNK going 2-3 with an RBI while Vinny Ribar reached base three times and went 1-3 at the plate. Starting pitcher Justin Lindeman lasted 6.0 innings giving up seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits while walking three and striking out four.

With the win on Wednesday, PSUGA extended their winning streak over PSU-New Kensington to seven straight ball games. They are a perfect 7-0 against PSNK and will hope to keep that going as the PSUAC playoff race will come down to the very last game.

First pitch for Monday’s doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. followed by the second game at 3 p.m. The games will be played at ABC Baseball Field located at 671 Baseball Lane, Lower Burrell, PA. 15068.