CRESSON, Pa. – La Roche baseball walked into the AMCC Baseball Championship Game as the Cinderella story of the tournament and needed two wins to come out as champions. Unfortunately, the clock struck midnight for the #6 seed Redhawks, falling to #2 Penn State Behrend in game one, 7-1.

La Roche had a shot in top of the first, but left a runner stranded at second. The Lions would open the scoring in the bottom half of the first, as an RBI single made it 1-0.

In the top of the second and third, the red and black again got a runner to second base in the second and third base in the third, but they both would be left stranded.

Behrend would add to the lead in the bottom of the third, after another RBI single to make it 2-0.

Yet another runner reached second for La Roche in the top of the fourth, but couldn't go any further, then the Lions picked up two runs in the bottom of the fourth off an error to move the edge to 4-0.

The Redhawks pulled through for their lone run of the contest in the top of the sixth, as Christian Melendez singled home Casey Jones to trim the deficit to 4-1.

Behrend added to the lead, upping it to 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh with a two RBI single, then closed the scoring with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

Jamison Rhoades took the mound for La Roche, tossing 6.2 innings, allowing six runs (three earned), seven hits, five walks and struck out two.

Zach Jackson threw the remaining 1.1 innings and allowed one run, two hits and also struck out a pair.

Offensively, the Redhawks scattered eight hits, as Snyder (2-for-2, 2 BB) and Jones (2-for-4) each had a multi-hit game.

For their fantastic play in the tournament, Jones, Larry Bielawski and Tanner Schmitt earned AMCC All-Tournament Team honors.

La Roche concludes a 2024 season that was a tale of two stories.

The Redhawks overcame early heartbreak, falling in five of its first six games by way of walk-off and seven times total, including against Behrend in game #2 of the AMCC Championship Round.

However, the red and black battled, clinching its spot in the postseason on the final day of the season, and proceeded to go 4-2 in the AMCC Tournament, eliminating the #1 seed, #3 seed and #4 seed.

La Roche returns a wealth of experience for the 2025 season, as only three players move on by way of graduation.