WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The 2024 season came to an end for the Allegheny College baseball team on Friday afternoon following a 5-4 loss to Westminster College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament elimination game.

The fourth-seeded Gators (26-15) and fifth-seeded Titans (20-21) entered the eighth inning with the score knotted at 2-all, and at one point in the bottom of the eighth, Allegheny was only four outs away from moving on.

In the top of the frame, the Blue and Gold turned a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 advantage with one swing of the bat. Ryan Dougherty (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), who missed nearly seven weeks of action due to a shoulder injury, homered for the second time since returning to the lineup. Westminster's Logan Exler retired the first two batters he faced out of the bullpen, but the southpaw served up a 1-1 pitch that the right-handed-hitting Dougherty pulled down the line and over the left-field wall at Ross Memorial Park.

John Doney Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep), who entered in the seventh out of the bullpen, returned to the mound for the bottom half of the eighth. Looking to preserve the lead, he got the first Titan hitter of the inning to fly out, but the second batter reached on an infield error. Without the error, Doney's strikeout of Matthew Randza would have ended the inning. Instead, a bases-loaded walk and two-run single from Josh Reed plated three unearned runs and put Westminster up, 5-4.

Allegheny's hopes of at least forcing extra innings were high in the ninth. The speedy Tyson Bryant-Dawson (Oakland, Calif./Manvel (Texas)) beat out an infield single to start the inning. However, on a ground ball off the bat of Brady Nolin (Cumberland, Maine/Greely), Bryant-Dawson was called for interference while sliding into second base, resulting in a momentum-killing double play.

Inside the Box Score

• The Gators outhit the Titans, 12-to-9, but left 11 runners on base.
• Four of the top five players in Allegheny's lineup had multiple hits.
• Dougherty and Matt Jennings (Birmingham, Mich./Brother Rice) both had three hits.
• Bryant-Dawson and JD Robinson (Round Hill, Va./Woodgrove) each had two hits.
• Robinson was 2-for-2 at the plate and was plunked three times.
• Dougherty and William Wolff (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast) both drove in two runs.
• Dawson Thomas (Conneaut, Pa./Conneaut Area) pitched well as Allegheny's starter, allowing just two runs with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
• All three runs allowed by Doney in his 1.1 innings were unearned.

News and Notes

• Allegheny ended the spring with a 26-15 record, the most wins in a season since going 27-14 in 2014.
• On the mound, Thomas lowered his ERA to 3.05, the best among qualified pitchers on the staff in 2024.
• Jennings' incredible junior year closes with both streaks intact; he will begin 2025 riding a 34-game hit streak and a 42-game on-base streak, which started in the final game of the 2023 campaign.
• Jennings' 42-game on-base streak is tied for the 18th-longest in Division III history.
• Jennings recorded 69 hits this season, the most by a Gator since Brad Hensler '00 and Ben Couch '01 had 73 and 71, respectively, in 2000.
• Combined with Bryant-Dawson's 60 hits, Allegheny had multiple batters with 60-plus hits for the first time since Hensler and Couch surpassed 70 during a run to the College World Series in 2000.
• Dougherty's home run was his second of the year and the ninth of his career.
• Jennings and Mark Schweickert (Richmond, Va./John Randolph Tucker) were included on the 2024 PAC All-Tournament Team.