Baseball Opens PSUAC Tournament Wednesday As No. 2 Seed

MEDIA, Pennsylvania -- After finishing second in the PSUAC regular season standings, second-seeded Penn State Brandywine begins the PSUAC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon in Mont Alto, Pennsylvania.

Brandywine (19-13, 13-3) faces the winner of the No. 3 Beaver - No. 6 Hazleton matchup, which will be played earlier in the day, at Fayetteville Field (Directions) with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 pm.

Greater Allegheny earned the top seed and will face either No. 4 Mont Alto or No. 5 Schuylkill. The tournament becomes double elimination following the first round and continues through the end of the week with the championship game being held Friday at noon on Mont Alto's campus.

Brandywine has reached the conference tournament during 12 of the last 13 years, including all three seasons under the direction of Head Coach Billy Haines, but remains in pursuit of its first league title.

The Lions won their final four games of the regular season, scoring 58 runs in those contests. Tom Osenbach owns the team's top batting average at .441 and leads the USCAA with 16 doubles, while Gabe Encarnacion is hitting .373 with 25 runs scores and 19 runs batted in. Encarnacion needs four RBI for 100 in his career, while Osenbach is six RBI shy of 100.

John Gorgone boasts team highs with five home runs and 28 RBI and Josh Dellipriscoli is tied for the league lead in stolen bases with 19.

A pair of senior pitchers lead the rotation as Brian Pennock and Carmen Scota are likely to start the first two games of the tournament for Brandywine. Both have posted 3-2 records this spring and Pennock owns the team lead with 26 strikeouts. Andrew Karahalis and Troy Mucchetti both have recorded four wins, while Brian Bosco has earned three victories.

The PSUAC Tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the USCAA Tournament, which will be held in Hampton, Va., May 12-16.

Wednesday:
Game 1: Beaver vs. Hazleton (1:00 pm) – at Fayetteville
Game 2: Mont Alto vs. Schuylkill (1:00 pm) – at MA
Game 3: Brandywine vs. Game 1 winner (4:30 pm) – at Fayetteville
Game 4: Greater Allegheny vs. Game 2 winner (4:30 pm) – at MA

Thursday (all at MA):
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser (11:00 am)
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner (2:00 pm)
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 loser (5:00 pm)

Friday:
Game 8: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner (12:00 pm)
Game 9: If necessary (30 minutes after completion of Game 8)