Penn State Mont Alto Completes the Comeback, Wins 2nd Straight PSUAC Baseball Title

DuBois, Pa. - Entering Sunday, Penn State Mont Alto's baseball team knew they had a long day ahead of them. Needing three wins to defend their PSUAC baseball title, they got just that and defended their title. 

After dispatching Penn State DuBois in the loser's bracket final, Mont Alto enacted revenge on Penn State Hazleton who had already handed them a loss. Mont Alto forced the decisive game with a 4-2 win before racing out to an early lead and winning 15-4 in the final game. The win capped the season and is Mont Alto's third title since 2022.

After Hazleton sent Mont Alto to the loser's bracket on Saturday, Mont Alto answered with a 9-8 win over Penn State Shenango on Saturday night before meeting rival DuBois Sunday morning. Mont Alto scored in each of the first three innings to push their lead to 4-0 as Garrett Rosenberry and Braden Zeger had RBI singles. DuBois made it 4-2, but never got closer as a Carter Fogal double made it 7-2 to help Elijah White pick up the win after a solid five innings on the bump.

That set up the rematch with Hazleton, an East Division foe they had taken three of four from during the regular season. As the team advancing from the winner's bracket, Hazleton chose to be the visitors, hoping to capitalize on the hot starts that were a hallmark of their tournament run to this point. It seemed to work, as Hazleton scored the games first two runs--one in each of the first two innings as Trent Strohecker and Ryan Racho each drove in runs.

But Wyatt Kissel, a hero on Saturday, singled in the third to get Mont Alto on the board and Fogal smashed a three-run shot one batter later to give Mont Alto the lead. A committe approach on the mound helped Mont Alto, who had already played four games on the weekend. Jayden Bell came in relief of starter Athan Miller, each pitching three innings. Bell allowed no hits in his three, and Fogal earned the save with a clean inning in seventh, striking out all three batters he faced.

Hazleton, who had also played four games before Saturday, wasn't able to sustain their momentum coming into Sunday. Deep into their pitching staff, Mont Alto got out to the hot start that Hazleton had previously had. Kissel opened up the scoring with an RBI single and Garrett Rosenberry crushed a grand slam, immediately followed by a Garrett Worth homer to make it 6-0 before Hazleton even got to the plate. 

Strohecker drove in a run and it was 6-2 after the first. Leading 7-3, James Sibert added a solo shot to make it 8-3 and Mont Alto never looked back. Two more crooked numbers on the scoreboard, four in the fifth and three in the sixth, gave Mont Alto a comfortable advantage as they cruised to the crown.

The win gives Mont Alto the PSUAC's automatic berth into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Baseball Small College World Series, slated to begin Monday, May 11th in DuBois, Pa.