BRADFORD, Pa. - The Pitt-Bradford baseball team split an AMCC doubleheader with Mt. Aloysius Saturday, falling 4-3 in game one before bouncing back to win game two, 14-12.
Mt. Aloysius scored in each of the first three innings in game one to build a 3-1 lead it would not relinquish.
Austin Parent doubled to open the bottom of the fourth, and he scored on Kyle Hunt's single to left field, narrowing the gap to 3-2. The Mounties' Matthew McCourt connected for his league-leading 13th home run in the fifth to push the lead back to two.
Tim Brown led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a solo shot to left field, his third of the season, to trim the deficit to 4-3. Following a pair of groundouts, Brock Blovsky reached on an infield single, and Dalton Renn and Jay Clinger walked to load the bases. Parent grounded into a fielder's choice in the next at bat to end the game.
Pitt-Bradford's Ryan Boyer went six innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on nine hits. He walked three and struck out five while suffering his second straight loss. Nate Renick pitched a perfect seventh inning, and Clinger had two of the Panthers' nine hits.
Pitt-Bradford jumped out to a 13-1 lead in game two and hung on for the victory, as the Mounties scored 11 runs in the final four innings.
The Panthers scored eight runs in the third inning, including a bases clearing triple by Renn and consecutive two-run doubles by Austin Hoggatt and Samuel Dreistadt. Parent added a run-scoring hit in the fourth, stretching his hitting streak to 13 games, and Brody Wood drove in two runs with a single to right field. The advantage stretched to 12 on Renn's two-run double in the fifth.
Mt. Aloysius stormed back, scoring four runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to make it 13-6. Following a bases loaded walk in the eighth, the Mounties' Kyle Droz uncorked a grand slam to pull the visitors within 13-11. Pitt-Bradford added an insurance run in its half of the inning after the Mounties' catcher failed to properly step on home play during a force out attempt.
The Panthers' Abe Frech walked the first batter of the ninth inning, and Andrew Bacha, who replaced Frech, yielded a single and a walk to load the bases. The freshman bounced back, though, retiring the next three batters in order to earn his first career save.
Matthew Hogue got the win despite allowing nine runs in 7.2 innings pitched, and Hunt went 3-4 with a RBI and a run. Renn finished the game with five RBIs, upping his team-leading total to 29.
Pitt-Bradford improves to 11-19 on the season and 6-6 in the AMCC. The Panthers will have the week off for finals before traveling to Penn State Altoona next Saturday.
