ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team held its Senior Day celebration on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions split a doubleheader with Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University at Stewart Athletic Field.

Penn State Altoona (13-13, 4-6 AMCC) rallied for a 7-6, walk-off win in game one, before La Roche (8-18, 2-8 AMCC) held on for a 23-22 victory in a wild second game. The Lions finish this week's series with the Redhawks by taking two out of three.

Prior to game one, the Lions recognized seniors Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin), Caden Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny), Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin), Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall), Aidan Donovan (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's), Eric Seick (Mount Laurel, NJ/Camden Catholic), Cole Strick (Windber, PA/Windber), Carter Piercey (West Chester, PA/Rustin), Michael Labisi (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston), and Sean Wing (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's).

Game One: Penn State Altoona 7, La Roche 6 (Final/8 innings)

The Lions overcame a 6-3 deficit late in the game, scoring three in the sixth to tie it. After a scoreless seventh sent the contest to extras, Penn State Altoona sealed its comeback victory on a walk-off when Chelli scored from third on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth.

Chelli went 3-for-4 with three RBI, a run scored, a walk, and three stolen bases, tying for the most stolen bases in a game in team history. Ingold drew three walks and scored a run.

On the mound, Andrew Crouse (Mercersburg, PA/James Buchanan) got the start and finished with a no-decision, tossing five innings, yielding three runs, and striking out five Redhawk batters. Labisi pitched one inning in relief after that, and Wing worked a perfect seventh inning. Ryan Schellhase (Fayetteville, PA/Chambersburg) entered in the eighth and worked around a pair of walks to post a scoreless frame, ultimately getting his fourth win of the season.

Penn State Altoona scored the day's first run in the bottom of the second inning, when Owen Dombrosky (Hollidaysburg, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) led off with a walk and later scored on Devin Colón's (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) two-out single through the left side.

La Roche tied the score in the top of the third on Chase Sankovich's two-out RBI double to left, and the Redhawks proceeded to take a 3-1 lead in the fourth, thanks to an Alex Perez solo home run and a Troy Sallis RBI base hit.

The Lions evened the score in the bottom of the fifth. Strick started the inning with a double down the left-field line, and Judd Dasso (Brentwood, TN/Brentwood) walked with one out. A wild pitch allowed Strick to score before Chelli's RBI single to right plated Dasso, making it 3-3.

The Redhawks answered in the next half-inning, when Sallis' sacrifice fly to center and run-scoring hits from Ricky Heyz and Samuel DiCicco put the visitors in front again, 6-3, in the top of the sixth.

Penn State Altoona responded yet again to tie the score, getting three runs across in the bottom of the sixth. Donovan started the frame with an infield single to shortstop, and he later scored on Jarek Szaflarski's (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) sac fly to center. One batter later, Chelli's two-out, two-run single to center knotted the score at 6-6.

After Wing and the Lions got a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh, Penn State Altoona threatened in the bottom half. With one out, Donovan and Ingold both drew walks, and Ethan Bojko (Chester Springs, PA/Downingtown East) was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. However, La Roche escaped the inning unscathed on a fielder's choice, and the game proceeded to extra innings. (Note: La Roche won a protest that overturned the potential winning run for Penn State Altoona in the seventh, and the game was resumed on Wednesday, April 22, with the score tied 6-6 in the top of the eighth)

To start extras, La Roche had action on the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth, drawing two walks and getting the potential go-ahead run to third following a wild pitch. But a fly ball out ended the inning without yielding any damage to the visitors.

In the bottom of the eighth, Chelli reached on a one-out walk, then advanced to third base on Rauch's base hit through the right side. During the next at-bat, a passed ball allowed Chelli to come home, wrapping up a one-run, walk-off victory for Penn State Altoona.

Game Two: La Roche 23, Penn State Altoona 22

After a thrilling finish to game one, the second contest of the doubleheader proved to be an unpredictable ride, as the Lions and Redhawks combined for 45 runs and 42 hits, including eight total home runs, while committing a combined 12 errors. La Roche came out on top, fending off a late push by Penn State Altoona to hang on for a one-run victory and salvage a game from this week's three-game set.

Six different Lions had a multi-hit performance in game two, including four players collecting three hits each.

Rauch led the way by tying for the second-most RBI in a game in team history, driving in seven runs while finishing 3-for-7 with two home runs, a double, and three runs scored. Chelli was also 3-for-7 with three RBI, two doubles, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Colón went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, three RBI, three runs scored, and a walk, and Szaflarski finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored, two RBI, and a walk.

Ingold hit 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored, two RBI, and two walks, and Dombrosky was 2-for-6 with a double and a run scored. Benjamin Ettien (Media, PA/Penncrest) walked three times, scored two runs, and had a hit and an RBI.

Seick made the start at pitcher and took a no-decision after going one inning, and Michael Tedrick (Plum, PA/Plum) tossed the next 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. Ryan Jackson (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) followed with three innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts, and Wing was saddled with the loss after pitching 2 1/3 innings, yielding three earned runs, and striking out three. Daniel Ditterline (Collegeville, PA/Spring-Ford) finished the game, pitching the last 1 1/3 innings, giving up a run, and recording a pair of strikeouts.

La Roche punched its way to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, but Penn State Altoona answered quickly with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. Rauch's two-run homer to right cut the Redhawks' lead in half before Colón blasted a three-run homer, his first as a member of the team, to make it 5-4.

The visitors continued to find success at the plate in the top of the second, scoring five runs to leap back on top, 9-5. Dasso scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the second to trim the Lions' deficit to three, but La Roche leaned on the long ball to add five more runs to its total in the top of the third. After Aaron Exler hit an RBI double, Perez, Brady Angus, and Liam Burns hit three home runs in a row to boost the Redhawks' lead to 14-6.

Penn State Altoona chipped away with three runs in the bottom of the third. Strick's RBI double to center brought one run home, and after a pitching change, Ettien scored on a wild pitch and Szaflarski plated another run with his single through the left side to make it 14-9. Ettien's RBI single down the left-field line in the bottom of the fourth closed the gap to 14-10.

La Roche made it 15-10 in the top of the fifth on Burns' second home run of the game, but Penn State Altoona drew closer in the bottom of the fifth. Rauch plated a pair with his double to center, and Ingold raked a two-run homer to left to make it a one-run difference, 15-14.

In the bottom of the sixth, Chelli's two-out, two-run double to center gave Penn State Altoona its first lead of the contest, 16-15. But La Roche rallied for seven runs in the top of the eighth, powering its way back into the lead, 22-16.

The Lions kept hanging around, thanks to a four-run bottom of the eighth. Chelli's RBI double to center made it 22-17, and Rauch launched his second home run of the game, a three-run blast to right, to trim the Redhawks' advantage to two, 22-20.

La Roche picked up an important insurance run in the top of the ninth, when Chase Sankovich's sac fly to left made it 23-20.

That run loomed large in the bottom of the ninth, when the Lions threatened to win on another walk-off but came up just short. Penn State Altoona loaded the bases to open the inning, as Ettien walked, Colón singled to right, and Bojko was hit by a pitch. After that, Szaflarski drew a base on balls to score pinch runner David Wignot (Charlotte, NC/Lake Norman Charter), and Dasso was hit by a pitch to bring home Colón, cutting La Roche's lead to 23-22. However, with the bases loaded and still no outs, the Redhawks escaped by inducing a lineout and a game-ending double play.

Penn State Altoona gets back in action tomorrow, Sunday, April 12, when the Lions hit the road for a single, 9-inning non-conference game at Thiel College. First pitch is expected at 1 p.m.