The defending champion Pennsylvania College of Technology baseball team advanced as the top seed to the Penn State University Athletic Conference Final Four with a 15-0 win over Penn State Scranton on Tuesday, putting it into this weekend's double-elimination tournament at Medlar Field in State College .
Will Moser ( Scranton ) allowed just one hit in five innings of work to get the win against Penn State Scranton and will be on the mound again Saturday in the team's 12:30 p.m. playoff opener against Penn State Harrisburg.
"We were hitting the ball all over the place and it was just an all-around good game," Penn College coach Chris Howard said of the Scranton win. The Wildcats hammered out 18 hits with Phil Woodring (Waynesboro) going 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs batted in, Phil's brother James going 2-for-5 with three RBI and Levi Bailey (Harrisburg) going 4-for-4 with three runs scored.
In two playoff games to reach the Final Four, Penn College (22-9 overall and 17-3 against conference foes) has outscored its opponents 29-0, and Howard couldn't be more pleased.
"Everything is just doing great. The pitching has been fantastic. That was the one area that I had my most concern about at the beginning of spring and they've probably been the strongest point of the team. They're doing fantastic. They can't do any more," he said.
"And now, with the warmer weather, the hitting is starting to come around and the defense is solid; so just keep riding the wave, that's basically what we're doing," the coach said.
On Saturday, Penn State Delaware meets Penn State Beaver at 10 a.m. in Game 1. Top-seeded Penn College and wild-card Penn State Harrisburg play at 12:30 p.m. in Game 2. The losers of the first two games square off at 3 p.m. in Game 3 and the winners of the first two games meet at 5:30 p.m. in Game 4.
Sunday's schedule has the winner of Game 3 and loser of Game 4 playing at 10 a.m. in Game 5. The winner of Game 4 plays the winner of Game 5 at 12:30 and, if an extra game is needed to decide the championship, it will be played at 3 p.m.
"I think we're set. There was a little bit of excitement Tuesday, some that I don't think has been there for a couple of weeks. You can tell that the guys are excited about the playoffs and there's just a little more hop in their steps. They are geared up for it and everybody is excited about this weekend. It should be fun," Howard said.
( Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's Athletics Web site ).