PITTSBURGH, PA – The La Roche baseball team picked up a big 11-4, 17-2 double-header sweep of Pitt Greensburg on Wednesday afternoon. The Redhawks improve to 16-6 overall and 6-0 in the AMCC Conference.
Game 1:
Pitt-Greensburg placed runners at the corners and a La Roche error allowed Pitt-Greensburg to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Regis Sauers followed with a strikeout and Jonathan Spina made a sliding grab to limit the damage.
The Redhawks got one back in the bottom of the inning. Corey Lazor drew a one-out walk and scored all the way from first on an error by Greensburg's right fielder. Sauers stranded a runner at second in the top of the second but the Bobcats tacked another on in the third. Sauers however stranded runners at first and second with an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
In the bottom of the third, Lazor hit a one-out double to the left field gap. Luis Navedo then traded places with Lazor after hitting a deep fly ball over the centerfielder's head.
Lazor gunned out a runner trying to advance from first to third in the fourth inning. Sauers then got a popup to end the inning and to leave runners on first and second.
Shane Roebuck hit a no doubter over the left field wall in the bottom of the fourth to give La Roche a 3-2 lead. Sauers then used a strikeout to get out of another jam in the top of the fifth.
The Redhawks tacked on six more runs in the fifth. A trio of errors allowed Lazor and Navedo to score all of the way from first base. Ian Velez then singled home David Lemley from second base. Roebuck provided his second homer of the game, a three run shot, to give La Roche a 9-2 lead.
La Roche added a pair in the sixth and went on to win 11-4.
Game 2:
Starting pitcher Nick Tunstall opened with two perfect innings and the Redhawks gave him some breathing room in the bottom of the second.
Joe Professori smacked a standup double into left and scored as Velez stretched a would-be single into a double. Tunstall allowed his first hit in the third inning and then used a great diving catch by Lazor to throw a perfect fourth.
La Roche took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Velez hit a 2-out single just past a diving shortstop and then Mitchel Yard tripled off the centerfield wall.
Tunstall stranded runners at first and second base in the fifth inning to keep it scoreless.
La Roche took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Spina tripled into the left field corner and advance home on a Lazor sac fly to right. Professori then provided a 2-out single and slid under the catcher's tag on a Velez single through the left side.
Tunstall sent them down in order in the top of the seventh and the Redhawks added nine more in the bottom of the inning.
Lemley doubled home Navedo and then swiped home. Two batters later Roebuck sent a 2-run triple into the right field gap. Spina followed by tripling home Roebuck and then scored on a single up the middle.
Lemley then provided his eighteenth career home run, a three run blast over the monster in left field. Christian Hirt then blasted his first career homer in the eighth as the Redhawks cruised to a 17-2 win.
The Redhawks will welcome Waynesburg to campus on Friday for a 4pm start.