Johnstown, PA- The Alfred State baseball team completed two comebacks on the day to advance to the AMCC Championship game. The Pioneers took down Hilbert 8-5 before beating Pitt-Greensburg 6-3.
Game 8: Alfred State 8 - Hilbert 5
Daniel Lewis took the win as he came in relief and pitched 8.1 innings only allowing one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts.
Braylon Connell got the save as he came in and got the final two outs of the game. At the plate,
Matty Eygabroad went 4-5 with a triple and two RBIs, while
Zach Young went 4-5 with an RBI.
Christian Morrison,
Anthony Snyder, and
Jordan Hughes all tallied an extra base hit each.
The Hawks took the early lead as they scored three runs in the first and one run in each the fourth and sixth innings for the 5-0 lead. The Pioneers put together some late game magic that started in the seventh inning, with a run scored on a wild pitch. The ASC offense got rolling in the eighth as they scored three runs. After back-to-back singles started the at-bat, Eygabroad tallied a two RBI triple to make it a 5-3 game. After a pitching change, Snyder notched an RBI single through the right side and cut the lead to one, 5-4.
In the top of the ninth, Alfred State scored four runs to take their first lead of the game. Morrison led off with a double to left field, before
Frank Grad laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Morrison to third. Then, an RBI single from Young tied the game at 5-5.
Sean Connor followed with a single, and Hughes would put in a two RBI double down the right field line for the 7-5 lead. Eygabroad got runners on the corners with a single before a double steal scored a run to make it an 8-5 game.
The Pioneers held off the Hawks in the bottom of the ninth to complete the comeback, and advanced to Game 9 of the AMCC Tournament.
Game 9: Alfred State 6 - Pitt-Greensburg 3
On the mound in Game 9,
Zach Miner picked up the win after pitching 8.0 innings scattering three runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Connell picked up his second save on the day.
Logan Lutz led the way as he went 2-3 with both hits being doubles. Grad went 2-5 with a double and three RBIs.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bobcats got on the board first with two runs. The Pios cut the deficit in half with a run scored in the fourth, before tying the game at 2-2 in the top of the seventh. Pitt-Greensburg regained the lead in the bottom half of the seventh to make it a 3-2 game.
Alfred State brought out some more late game magic as they scored four runs in the top of the ninth. Eygabroad led off with a four pitch walk, before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Lutz got hit by a pitch, and two batters later Morrison got walked to load the bases. With two outs, Grad tallied a three RBI double down the right field line to give the Pios their first lead of the game, 5-3. Grad would move over to third on an error on that play. A Young walk put runners on the corners, and Grad came home to score on a wild pitch and make it a 6-3 game.
The Pioneers finished the comeback by not allowing a Bobcat run in the bottom of the ninth for the 6-3 win. The Pioneers advance to the AMCC championship game for the second straight year. They will take on Penn State Behrend in the Championship game tomorrow with first pitch slated for 2 pm. The Pioneers will have to defeat the Lions twice tomorrow to claim the AMCC Title.
