Postgame Interviews - #1 Austin Hoffman, #18 Regis Sauer, #28 Jonathan Melendez
PITTSBURGH, PA -- #16 La Roche College baseball advanced to the AMCC Tournament Winner's Bracket Final after defeating Penn State Altoona 8-2. The Redhawks will take on Pitt-Greensburg tomorrow at 1pm with the winner advancing to Sunday's AMCC Championship Round. The loser will play at 4pm in the AMCC Tournament Loser's Bracket Final.
Joe Professori tripled and scored in the bottom of the first, but Lions' starter Sawyer Kline limited the Redhawk offense early.
Penn State Altoona jumped ahead with a run in the first and another in the second. Regis Sauer settled down and followed with three straight scoreless innings.
The La Roche offense broke out in the fifth inning to earn Sauer the victory. Dylan Urban got things going with a double and Hoffman singled through the right side. Jonathan Melendez came through with a 2-run double to right field. It looked like Hoffman was gunned out at the plate, but he ducked under the catcher's glove and slid in for the winning run. Melendez scored on a Jon Spina fielder's choice.
Jake Seymour followed with two scoreless innings and the La Roche offense added three runs in the seventh.
Melendez and Elmo Trickett provided back to back RBI triples. Two batters later, Shane Roebuck hit a 2-out double down the left field line to score Trickett.
Hoffman added an RBI single in the top of the eighth. Reliever Cam Smith shut it down with a scoreless eighth and ninth inning.
Hoffman was 4 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI. Melendez finished with a triple, double, 3 RBIs, and scored twice.
Sauer improved to 4-0, allowing just 1 earned run over 5 innings. Seymour and Smith each pitched two innings of scoreless relief.