DUBOIS — The Penn State DuBois baseball team, fresh off completing its first-ever undefeated season in conference play, opened the PSUAC Tournament in dominant fashion Friday with a 9-0 victory against Penn State Shenango at Showers Field.
Penn State DuBois entered the tourney with a huge target on its back once again and rolled out its ace — freshly minted West Division Pitcher of the Year Connor Cherry — against Shenango, which opened its day with a 12-6 upset of West No. 2 seed PSU Greater Allegheny in a single-elimination game to open the tournament.
Cherry lived up to that honor he received on Thursday and silenced the Shenango bats. Cherry tossed a three-hit shutout on 89 pitches while striking out seven, walking two and hitting a pair of batters.
Shenango struggled so much to get its offense going that just two runners reached second base in the game, and one of those was John Perry who ripped a one out double in the second but overslid second and was tagged out.
The other other Shenango runner to reach second was Dominic Fornataro, who drew a walk to lead off the game and reached second on a wild pitch with one out before being stranded there.
Cherry’s defense played error free behind, with second baseman Alex Gavlock starting a nifty 4-6-3 double play in the sixth after Fornataro had drawn another leadoff walk.
The righty was backed by an offense that scored nine runs on 12 hits and wasted little time getting Cherry the lead. DuBois scored three runs in the first and led 6-0 after three innings.
DuBois tacked on three more runs in the fifth and nearly ended the game early, but Shenango shortstop JA Qualiero made a diving catch on a line drive hit by Gavlock to end the inning wit the bases loaded.
After Cherry worked that walk to Fornataro to open the game, the DuBois offense went right to work in the bottom half of the inning.
Colby Bodtorf drew a leadoff walk himself, while Kyle Elensky followed with a single to center. Gavlock followed with a deep fly ball to the wall in center that Bodtorf tagged up on.
Grant Lilliard then smacked a single to right that plated Bodtorf, while Isaac Tiracorda — the newly crowned West Division Rookie of the Year — singled home two more runs to make it 3-0. Tiracorda was thrown out trying to take second on a late throw to the plate.
DuBois added to that lead with with a run in the second when Aaron Miller reached on a leadoff error, stole second and scored on a two-out single to center by Elensky.
Cherry enjoyed 1-2-3 third, recording a pair of strikeouts to quickly get DuBos back to the plate. And, the top seed in the West responded with two more runs to extend the lead to 6-0.
Tiracorda got things started with a single with one away. He promptly stole second and scored on a two-out single to right by Braylen Corter, who in turn came home on a Miller single to right.
Nick Cagliola made it three hits in a row, as his bat actually snapped off at the handle on a single to left. Miller tried to got first-to-third on the hit but was gunned down at third to end the inning.
That play did little to infuse any life into Shenango, which continued to struggle to figure out Cherry, who worked around a hit batsman in the fourth and a two-out single by Logan Cypher in the fifth.
DuBois plated its final three runs in the bottom half of the fifth and was looking for more to end the game early.
Tiracorda once again jump-started a rally with a one out single. Kyle Dobson followed with a single of his own, while Corter reached on an error to load the bases with one out still.
Miller then drew a walk to force home Tiracorda, while pinch-hitter Christian Hopp ripped a single to center to plate Dobson. Shenango then cut down a run at the plate on a grounder hit by Bodtorf,. However, Elensky delivered his third hit of the day to bring home Miller for a 9-0 lead that put DuBois on the verge of a mercy-rule victory.
Qualiero made sure that didn’t happen as he made a diving catch up the middle on a liner hit by Gavlock that appeared headed for left-center field. Instead, the game continued and went the distance.
Elensky and Tiracorda each had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Penn State DuBois offensive attack, with Tiracorda also scoring twice. Miller added two RBIs and two runs scored.
DuBois will now play in the winner’s bracket final today at 11:30 a.m. against the winner of Friday night’s final opening day matchup that pitted Schuylkill (East No. 1) vs. Mont Alto (East No. 2). That game was not completed as of press time.
Meanwhile, Shenango drops into the loser’s bracket where it plays the loser of the Schuylkill-Mont Alto game today at 9 a.m.
A second elimination game will be played tonight at 6 p.m. following the City Classic between DuBois and DuBois Central Catholic to determine who will be the second team to play for the championship on Sunday.
A full writeup on the PSUAC All-Conference teams announced Thursday evening will appear in Tuesday’s edition of the Courier Express, along coverage of weekend action in the tournament.
PENN STATE DUBOIS 9,
PENN STATE SHENANGO 0
Score by Innings
Shenango 000 000 0 — 0
DuBois 312 030 x — 9
PSU Shenango—0
Dominic Fornataro lf 1000. Dante Micaletti 2b 3000, Troy Bachman ss-rf 3010, Jason Malley 1b 2000, Mikey Guarnieri dh 2000, Boyd Kurutz ph 0000, Nick Osborne p 0000, Remington Hart p 0000, Will Perry p 0000, Josh Day p 0000, Luke Atterholt p 0000, John Perry c 2010, David Moyer c 1000, Nate Evans 3b 3000, Logan Cypher cf 2010, Michael Gushura ph 1000, Tyler evans rf 1000, JA Qualiero ss 1000, Totals: 22-0-3-0.
PSU DuBois—9
Colby Bodtorf ss 3100, Kyle Elensky 3b 4132, Alex Gavlock 2b 4000, Grant Lilliard c 4111, Isaac Tiracorda lf 3232, Kyle Dobson rf 3110, Braylen Corter 1b 3111, Ezeck Olinger 1b 0000, Aaron Miller dh 3212, Connor Cherry p 0000, Nick Cagliola cf 2010, Christian Hopp ph 1011. Totals: 30-9-12-9.
Errors: Shenango 3, DuBois 0. LOB: Shenango 5, DuBois 6. DP: DuBois 1. 2B: J. Perry. HBP: Malley (by Cherry), Kurutz (by Cherry); Dobson (by Osborne). SB: Tiracorda, Corter, Miller.
Pitching
Shenango: Nick Osborne-1 IP, 3 H. 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB. 0 SO, 1 HB; Remington Hart-3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO; Will Perry-1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO; Josh Day-2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO; Luke Atterholt-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO.
DuBois: Connor Cherry-7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO, 2 HB.
Winning pitcher: Cherry. Losing pitcher: Osbrone.