This Wednesday, May 19th and Thursday, May 20th (if necessary), the La Roche University baseball team will take on Penn St. Behrend at home in the AMCC Tournament Championship. The best-of-three series is set to begin at 1:00 p.m at the Baierl Athletic Complex on La Roche's campus. Two games will be played on Wednesday, game two will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. If a third game is necessary, it will be played on Thursday at 1:00 p.m.

This week's matchup marks the fifth time in the last eight years that La Roche and Penn St. Behrend have squared off in the AMCC Tournament Championship. The Redhawks defeated Behrend in the championship three years in a row (2017, 2016, 2015). The last time La Roche lost the AMCC Championship was to the Lions in 2013.

For the first time in conference history, the AMCC Tournament Championship will be played as a best-of-three series. In previous years, the AMCC played a six team, double-elimination style bracket.

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Game One Live Stats | Game Two Live Stats | Live Stream | Digital Program

La Roche News and Notes

• LRU is 4-0 so far in the AMCC playoffs and owns a 19-1 overall record. Last time out, the Redhawks defeated Alfred St. College in the AMCC semifinals on May 14th in a two game sweep to advance to their ninth straight AMCC Tournament Championship. La Roche convincingly took game one 14-1. Jake Seymour pitched a career-high 11 strike-outs and gave up just one earned run in his sixth complete game of the season. Ryan Lynn went 3-for-5 with a home run and a career-high 6 RBI. Game two was a different story. Despite being out-hit by the Pioneers 12-9, the Redhawks made the most of their opportunities and won by a final score of 8-7. Dylan Urban hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth to seal the deal.
• La Roche has won six straight AMCC Tournament Championships from 2014-2019. The Redhawks have made nine straight tournament title's and have won seven of the last eight. The last time LRU lost in the Tournament Championship was in 2013 to Penn St. Behrend.
• In the last six AMCC Championships combined, La Roche has outscored their opponents 72-34. Most recently, LRU defeated Penn St. Altoona 6-0 in the 2019 title game. There was no championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This season, the Redhawks have outscored their opponents 195-41 (+154). LRU ranks first in the conference and 16th in NCAA D-III with 9.8 runs per game. 
• LRU's pitching rotation has a 2.03 cumulative ERA, ranking first in the AMCC and fourth in NCAA D-III. The Redhawks WHIP (1.02) ranks first in the conference and fourth in NCAA D-III and their strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.44) ranks first in the conference and tenth in NCAA D-III.
• La Roche leads the AMCC in slugging percentage (.553, 6th in NCAA), on base percentage (.445, 12th in NCAA), doubles per game (2.9, 7th in NCAA) and home runs per game (0.95, 53rd in NCAA).
• The Redhawks fielding has been exceptional. The white and red's .977 fielding percentage ranks first in the conference and fourth in the country. LRU has committed just 15 fielding errors this season.
• Jake Seymour was named the AMCC Pitcher of the Week for the second time in the last three weeks on Monday.

Penn St. Behrend News and Notes

• Behrend has won three games in a row, including a pair of victories over Mt. Aloysius in the conference semifinals on Thursday.
• Colin Harger, Braden Paulinellie, and Josh Wagner are ranked 1, 3 and 5, respectively, in batting average in the conference.
• Harger is batting a team and conference-lead .460 and is on a 13-game hitting streak
• Harger had a season-best five hits on five attempts in game two against Mt. Aloysius
• Junior pitcher Thomas Zbezinski got his sixth win of the season, going the distance and throwing a career-high 11 strikeouts vs. the Mounties in game one
• Zbezinski is first in the AMCC with 62 strikeouts and is second with a 2.01 ERA
• As a team, the Lions rank second in doubles with 79 and RBIs with 232
• Behrend is competing for its sixth AMCC title, last winning the crown in 2013

Former La Roche student-athlete Tre Cunningham will be honored in a brief pre-game ceremony prior to the start of game one. The start time will likely be delayed 5-10 minutes.