HAMPTON, Va. Pennsylvania College of Technology kept its title hopes alive in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships on Wednesday morning with a 7-4 loser's-bracket win over Penn State Greater Allegheny.
The third-seeded Wildcats, now 36-8 on the year, play No. 4 seed Columbia Union College of Takoma Park, Md., at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at War Memorial Stadium. The winner of that game plays again at 7:30 Wednesday night. All losers are eliminated.
Penn College managed just four hits against fellow Penn State University Athletic Conference rival Penn State Greater Allegheny, but made them count as it took advantage of 11 walks, two wild pitches and five hit batters by two Greater Allegheny pitchers.
Devon Liquori (Hawley) set the tone for the Wildcats in the first inning with a two-run home run. Later in the inning, James Craft (York) added an RBI single. Penn College added a single run in the third inning on a bases-loaded walk and got two more in the fourth inning, thanks to a bases-loaded hit batter and bases-loaded wild pitch fromGreater Alleghenypitchers. It completed its scoring in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Tom Hughes (Easton).
"(Liquori's home run) just changed the attitude of everybody. It was something that we needed to get that monkey off our back get ahead in the game. We needed Devon's shot to get the game back into our hands," coach Chris Howard said, while taking a break at the team's hotel between games.
Adam Thomke (South Williamsport) went 6 2/3 innings on the mound for the Wildcats and improved to 8-0 on the season. Skylar Gingrich (Lititz) got the final out and earned a save.
Looking ahead to the Columbia Union game, Howard said, "They're a good ball club. It's going to be a tough game. Our offense still hasn't come alive yet. We still have not hit they way we are capable of hitting. We need to break out."
Columbia Union lost its opener Tuesday night to top-seeded Apprentice School of Newport News, Va., 1-0.