DuBois, Mont Alto Prevail on Sunday, Advance to PSUAC Baseball Championship
DUBOIS, Pa. - The West Division won all three of Sunday's 2024 PSUAC Baseball Championship tournament games, with top-seed Penn State DuBois advancing to the Championship game and two-seed Penn State Mont Alto following suit a game later in action at Showers Field in DuBois.
GAME 1: PENN STATE MONT ALTO - 9, PENN STATE BRANDYWINE - 0
The day started with an elimination game between Penn State Brandywine, the three-seed from the East, and Mont Alto. Mont Alto jumped out to an early lead by plating four in the first inning, followed by a pair of fence posts on the scoreboard to make it 6-0 after three innings. Zach Garlin picked up his eighth win of the year with a six inning, three hitter. The fourth year pitcher struck out 12 and walked three as he shut down Brandywine's bats. Cameron Bailey and Brady Bigler each had four hits for Mont Alto, with Bailey driving in three. Bailey and teammates Wyatt Kissel and James Sibert each went deep for a Mont Alto attack that launched 15 hits and struck out just twice. The loss eliminated Brandywine from the tournament.
GAME 2: PENN STATE DUBOIS - 4, PENN STATE SCHUYLKILL - 2
DuBois then met East Division number one seed Penn State Schuylkill, ultimately winning 4-2 on the strength of timely hitting and solid base-running. Brett Beith opened the scoring with an RBI double in the third, and teammate Grant Lillard traded places with a double of his own to break out to a 2-0 advantage. Schuylkill battled back in the fifth, finally getting to DuBois starter Taylor Boland. Conner Licklider and Owen Zimmerman had a pair of RBI singles to knot the score at 2-2.
Tyler Herzing smacked a two-out RBI single to left field to break the tie in the sixth, and Cory Lehman reached on an error in the seventh to push Beith across for a 4-2 lead. The DuBois pitching staff scattered eight hits on the day and gave up two earned runs while striking out 10 as Boland went 4.2 innings before being relieved by Zach Tiracorda in the fifth. Maclain Welshans came in for the save, striking out two batters to send his team to the title contest.
GAME 3: PENN STATE MONT ALTO - 5, PENN STATE SCHUYLKILL - 0
A pitcher's duel came in our final game of the day, as Mont Alto's Joshua Sullivan got the better of Schuylkill's Owen Zimmerman. The starters each went the distance for their teams, with Sullivan blanking Schuylkill and allowing just three hits. Sullivan used a strong defense behind him as he struck out just two batters, but his teammates committed just one error in 20 chances. Zimmerman didn't allow a run for five innings, and the teams entered the top of the sixth scoreless.
That's when the Mont Alto bats came alive. Blake Orndorff homered to left center, then Wyatt Kissel singled to score Bigler. Bailey followed with another RBI single before Mont Alto pushed across two more insurance runs.
The win advanced Mont Alto to the PSUAC Championship game where they will look to knock off the defending champions from DuBois. Mont Alto will need to win two games to take the trophy, but they've done just that in recent history. In 2022 Mont Alto needed two wins against DuBois on championship day and got them to become the first team not named DuBois to win the baseball title since 2018. They'll attempt to repeat that with an expected start time at 12:00 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The PSUAC is currently working with staff at Medlar Field to determine the field's playability after a weekend of rain and will make an announcement at 8:30 a.m. as to the location of the game(s). If Medlar Field is unplayable, the PSUAC will return to Showers Field in DuBois to complete the tournament.