PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Pitt-Bradford baseball team kept its season alive Saturday morning, eliminating Mt. Aloysius from the AMCC tournament, 9-7.
With the victory, the Panthers will face either La Roche or Penn State Behrend at 3 p.m. in another elimination contest.
Pitt-Bradford fell behind Mt. Aloysius, 1-0, after the top half of the first, but the Panthers mounted a two-out rally to grab the lead. Tyler Hoops walked to lead off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and advanced to third on a passed ball. After Dalton Renn struck out looking, Jay Clinger was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corner. The next four batters—Austin Parent, Brody Wood, Tim Brown and Austin Hoggatt—singled to plate four runs.
Renn added a RBI sacrifice fly in the second, and Brown extended the lead to 6-1 in the third with a run-scoring knock. Two batters later, Samuel Dreistadt stretched the advantage to seven with a two-run hit.
After allowing a RBI single in the first, Pitt-Bradford starter Ryan Boyer retired the next eight batters in a row. However, he ran into the trouble in the fourth, issuing three free passes. Mt. Aloysius' Vincent Jacob cleared the bases with a triple, and he scored on Dalton Garlock's base hit to cut the deficit to 8-6.
The Mounties threatened again in the fifth, but Boyer stranded a pair of runners to keep the Panthers in front. Both teams loaded the bases in the sixth, yet neither team scored.
Boyer worked a 1-2-3 seventh, and Ryan Northcott pitched the eighth, escaping a near disaster after giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning. In the bottom half of the frame, Brock Blovksy doubled with one out and came home on Renn's single. It was Renn's 100th career hit.
Mt. Aloysius cut the deficit to 9-7 in the ninth, but Northcott retired the final two hitters to complete the save, his first of the season.
Boyer earned his sixth win of the season, allowing six runs on seven hits while walking five and striking out nine. Parent and Brown each had three hits apiece, and Renn finished 2-4 with two RBIs.
Pitt-Bradford improves to 16-24 on the season, while Mt. Aloysius finishes the year at 17-26.
