FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State baseball team is preparing to host the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament starting Friday May, 14 at Bob Wells Field as it captured the number one seed in the conference to be named regular season champions.
FSU (29-11) comes into the tournament after winning 16 of its last 20 contests, including a 5-2 win over No. 21 Washington & Jefferson to cap its regular season and is making its 13th consecutive appearance in the conference tournament, while owning five tournament championships.
Frostburg State will face Mount Aloysius (20-21) in the second game of the afternoon, who is the No. 5 seed and earned its spot in the championship round by defeating No. 4 La Roche in a best of three-game series this last weekend. The Bobcats swept a hard-fought twinbill from the Mounties earlier this season by scores of 4-3 and 7-6.
The Bobcats are lead into the tournament by the top pitching staff in the AMCC which owns the conference's best team ERA at 4.89, while also having a conference leading 301 strike outs. Junior
Britton Quayle (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park (Anne Arnudel CC)) leads the staff and conference with a 8-0 record along with a team and conference leading 2.32 ERA. Quayle is also leading the team and AMCC in strike outs (57) and opposing batting average (.231).
FSU relies on the quality pitching of seniors
Greg Beachy (Grantsville, Md./Northern Garrett) and
Matt Ridenour (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown (Shepherd)) and junior
Greg Ross (Towson, Md./Loch Raven (CCBC Essex)). Beachy holds a 7-3 record with an ERA of 4.53, good enough for third in the AMCC. The righthander is second on the team in strike outs with 50 and has been a solid force for the Bobcats in both starts and coming in in relief. Ridenour has split time between in the mound and the outfield. He holds a 4-3 record on the season with 37 strike outs and is holding opponents to just a .254 batting average.
Ross has been effective on the mound for the Bobcats this season sitting on a 4-1 record overall and picked up his first save of the season in the win against W&J. Ross holds a 5.36 ERA on the season and is third on the team in strike outs with 47, which puts him at fifth in the AMCC behind Beachy. The righthander holds the fourth best opponents batting average in the AMCC at .269.
The Bobcats bring a solid starting lineup into this weekend. Junior
Matt Greene (Westminster, Md./South Carroll (Hagerstown)) is leading team with a .436 batting average with 68 hits on the season. Greene is also leading the team and conference with 11 homeruns and 22 doubles, helping the team to being ranked at 11th in the nation in doubles per game while he sits at third for total doubles. Sophomore
Doug Anuszewski (Eldersburg, Md./Liberty) continues to be key in the Bobcat lineup hitting .423 with five homeruns.
Senior
Joe Garrity (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) has been a key situational hitter for the Bobcats, hitting .402 with runners on base, picking up 48 RBIs on the season. Garrity is also second on the team in hits (52), doubles (17) and homeruns (7). Ridenour has also been a force at the plate hitting .325 and drawing a team and conference leading 31 walks on the season.
Frostburg State will play the second game of the afternoon tomorrow after No. 2 Penn State Behrend takes on No. 3 Penn State Altoona in the first game at 9:00 am. The losers of both games will play again at 3:00 pm Friday.
Championship Tournament
Championship Bracket (.pdf)
Championship Round - at Frostburg State University
Double Elimination
Friday, May 14
9:00 am Game 1: #2 Penn St. Behrend vs. #3 Penn St. Altoona
12:00 pm Game 2: #1 Frostburg St. vs. #5 Mount Aloysius
3:00 pm Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Saturday, May 15
11:00 am Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
2:00 pm Game 5: Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3
Sunday, May 16 - Championship Game
10:00 am Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
1:00 pm Game 7: Same as Game 6 (if needed)