JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Hilbert College Baseball opened play at the AMCC Postseason Tournament this afternoon. The Hawks, who entered as the conference's second seed, fell 10-2 to the third-seeded Pitt Greensburg Bobcats to move to an elimination game tomorrow afternoon.
Pitt-Greensburg wasted no time opening the scoring, as the Bobcats sent the game's second pitch of the game into the right field seats to open a 1-0 advantage.
Hilbert threatened in the bottom half of the inning after
Patrick Evans worked a walk and
Shane Pray followed with a single, but the rally was cut short to keep the Hawks off the board.
Following the scoreless Hilbert frame, the Bobcats pieced together their most productive inning of the game, a five-run second to gain full control of the contest. Back-to-back RBI singles, followed by a run-scoring error provided the scoring for Greensburg.
Pitt-Greensburg continued to add on in the third, capitalizing on another run-scoring single and a Hilbert error to push the lead to 7-0.
Despite the early deficit, Hilbert continue to fight, putting multiple runners aboard in both the second and third innings. However, the Hawks were unable to find a breakthrough to end the early Greensburg run.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Pitt-Greensburg stretched its advantage further in the fifth with a two-run inside-the-park home run, making it a 9-0 contest.
Hilbert finally erased the zero from the scoreboard in the bottom half of the frame, as Evans led off with a single and later scored on a base hit to left center by
Harley Hoag. Following a pair of Pitt-Greensburg errors extending the inning,
Dustin Hendrix delivered an RBI single to plate Hoag and trim the deficit to 9-2.
That would be as close as the Hawks would get, however, as Bobcats starter Conner Burkey settled back in and limited Hilbert's offense down the stretch. Pitt-Greensburg added an insurance run in the seventh on a sacrifice groundout after a leadoff triple, bringing the game to its 10-2 final.
Hilbert collected nine hits in the game, led by a three-hit effort from Hendrix and a pair of hits from both Evans and Pray. Hoag and Hendrix accounted for the Hawks' two RBIs.
On the mound,
Tyler Noel was charged with the loss after allowing five runs over the first two innings.
Ronald Mort tossed 0.2 innings and
Jacob Kim-Kubiak steadied things over the final 6.1 innings, surrendering just three runs.
UP NEXT:
The Hawks await the result of tonight's elimination game between Mount Aloysius and Alfred State as Hilbert will take on the winner tomorrow at 2 pm.
