MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Allegheny baseball team earned a convincing 8-3 victory over #7 Wooster in the opener of a pivotal North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader, before the nightcap was suspended due to darkness in the ninth inning.

A pair of seniors led the way in the opener, as Jacob Shick had two home runs, a double, and five RBIs in support of classmate Corey Keenan, who started on the mound and threw a stellar 7.1 innings, allowing just three hits with seven strikeouts.  In the nightcap, Wooster's offense came to life, as the Fighting Scots tallied 17 hits, including nine for extra-bases.  With Wooster ahead 16-5 in the ninth inning, the game was halted with the Gators rallying, as the bases were loaded with nobody out. 

The two teams will pick up play from that spot on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m., before they will continue with their regularly-scheduled doubleheader immediately after.

GAME ONE - ALLEGHENY 8, WOOSTER 3
After Keenan set the Fighting Scots down in order in the top of the first inning of the opener, the Gators wasted little time in giving their starter some early run support.  Cullen Flaherty led off the bottom of the first by reaching on an error, before Robert DiMaggio brought him home with a double off the wall in the the right-center gap to give the hosts a quick 1-0 lead.

The teams traded scoreless at-bats in the second, before the Gators added on in the bottom of the third, when Shick sent a two-out blast over the fence in left field for his first round-tripper of the year to double Allegheny's lead to 2-0.

Wooster countered with a single tally in the top of the fourth, using a pair of singles and a stolen base, but the Gators quickly added some insurance in the bottom half of the frame.  Flaherty led off with a single, before moving into scoring position on a wild pitch.  Andrew Dawson promptly brought Flaherty around wth an RBI single, before Shick came through with a double to left field to bring home Dawson and give Allegheny a 4-1 lead.  DiMaggio then promptly followed with a single of his own to plate Shick and make it 5-1.

Keenan continued to throw zeroes over the next two frames, and the Gators would give the veteran some additional support in the home half of the seventh.  Ethan Pawlak walked to begin the frame, before Flaherty followed with his second hit of the afternoon.  Two batters later, Shick deposited a pitch well over the fence in left-center for his second tater of the day to up the Gator lead to 8-1.

Wooster looked to rally in the eighth, using two errors, a walk, a fielder's choice, and a sacrifice fly to plate a pair of unearned runs and cut the deficit to 8-3.  With one down in the inning, Chase Boyer came out of the Gator bullpen to record a fly out and a ground out and end the Wooster threat. Boyer would then retire the Scots in order in the top of the ninth to close out the Gator victory.

Allegheny out-hit Wooster 12-3 in the victory, with seven different Gators finding the hit column. Shick's 3-for-4 effort led the way, while Flaherty, DiMaggio, and Austin Bristol had two hits apiece.  Shick and Flaherty also scored three runs apiece.

Keenan improved to 3-0 on the season, finishing with a line of three runs (one earned) on just three hits, walking four and striking out seven.  

Michael Houdek started and took the loss for Wooster, throwing seven innings and allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, with one walk and five K's.  Michael Wielansky, Garrett Crum, and Ryan Ostendorf had the three Wooster hits.

GAME TWO - WOOSTER 16, ALLEGHENY 5 (IN PROGRESS)
In the nightcap, Wooster jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings, as the Scots received a pair of doubles in the second inning, and home runs from Dan Harwood and Jamie Lackner in the third.  

The Gators climbed back into it with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Dawson singled and Shick was hit by a pitch, before DiMaggio cleared the bases with a double to the left field corner to trim the gap to 5-2.

Wooster's bats would stay hot, plating three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and three more in the eighth, on Lackner's second homer of the day,  to open up a 12-2 lead.  

Allegheny got one run back in the bottom of the eighth, as DiMaggio and pinch hitter Shane Fiorentini each singled, before DiMaggio would eventually cross the plate on a passed ball. 

The Fighting Scots' offense wasn't finished, as they batted around in the ninth inning and scored four more runs to open up a 16-3 lead.

WIth daylight waning, the Gators looked to go back to work in the bottom of the ninth.  Noah Shannon led off with a pinch hit single, before pinch hitter Keegan Phillips drew a walk.  A single from Dawson would load the bases, before DiMaggio lofted a one-base hit down the third base line to bring home Shannon and keep the bases loaded.  The game was then halted due to darkness.

The game will be picked up at 12 p.m. on Sunday.  Following the completion, the team's seniors will be recognized with an on-field ceremony, before the two squads will play the regularly scheduled Sunday doubleheader.