Published: May 15, 2008 11:25 pm      

Concord falls in regional opener

JOHNSTOWN, Penn. — This Pitt-Johnstown baseball team resembled the one with 30-plus wins and a WVIAC North Division title.

UPJ bounced back from a disappointing conference tournament performance by opening the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional with a 6-3 victory over Concord on Thursday.

The Mountain Cats (36-17-1) used a three-run ninth inning to defeat the Mountain Lions (35-14) at Point Stadium.

“That was a great feeling winning the first one,” UPJ coach Todd Williams said. “I told these guys the last 11 days, if we win one and get on a roll, who knows what can happen?”

Fourth-seeded UPJ will play No. 5 Shippensburg at 7 tonight at the Point. No. 3 Concord will play top-seeded West Chester at 3 p.m.

“This pulls us together,” said UPJ sophomore catcher Justin Demek, whose two-run single highlighted the ninth inning rally. “Obviously winning is better than losing.”

UPJ went 0-2 in the WVIAC Tournament, also at the Point, two weekends ago.

Concord led 1-0 in the first after Nick Merolillo’s run-producing single. UPJ tied it on Dan DelSignore’s home run over the screen in left in the third.

“I knew if we gave David Huey a little bit of run support he would be fine on the mound,” DelSignore said of the UPJ senior right-hander. “I was just looking for something to hit. It was a two-strike swing, (Concord starter Donovan Huffer) left it up and I was fortunate.”

Huey pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs. Reliever Chuck Boring tossed two scoreless innings, and closer Eric Faint threw the ninth, an inning ended when second baseman DelSignore somehow fielded pinch-hitter Kyle Webb’s grounder in shallow center and threw to shortstop Matt Petrowsky for a force out.

“The last play was unbelievable, an ESPN highlight,” Williams said.

“I was trying to knock the ball down,” DelSignore said. “When it struck my glove, I tried to make some kind of play out of it. Matty Petrowsky stayed with me and made a good stretch and we got the out.”

The Cats had taken a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Josh Campanella hit an infield single and Petrowsky ended an 0-for-11 postseason with a solid double to center. Adam Plummer’s sacrifice fly plated Campanella.

Demek gave UPJ a two-run lead with a blast over the wall in left-center field in the sixth.

“It was the first fastball I saw all day,” Demek said. “He was throwing me junk and made me look like a fool. I got the fastball.”

But Concord came back without even hitting the ball out of the infield in the bottom of the sixth.

Kyle Webb bunted for a single. UPJ’s Huey injured his ankle trying to field the ball but remained in the game.

The next batter, Brooks Cullen, placed an infield single between the mound and third base. Huffer’s sacrifice bunt moved up the runners. Merolillo’s bases-loaded fielder’s choice was followed by a throwing error that enabled a second, game-tying run to cross.

“We’ve been preaching all week that if something happens, we’re going to keep fighting,” Williams said.