WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The third-seeded Allegheny College baseball team dropped its first game of the 2026 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament to No. 4 Bethany College, 11-5, on Wednesday night at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pennsylvania.
The Bison (26-15) avenged their regular-season series loss at the hands of the Gators (26-15), forcing Allegheny into a potential elimination game. The Gators will face No. 6 Chatham University (29-12), which upset top-seeded Westminster College in the tournament opener, at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Whereas Allegheny broke out the bats with a combined 35 runs in the sweep of Bethany on April 14, the Bison pulled away with a five-spot in the fifth and three runs in the sixth. In the sixth, Bethany third baseman Gian DeGenova put an exclamation mark on their win with a two-run home run to jump ahead 11-4.
Allegheny tied the game at 2-all in the bottom of the first, beginning with a hard-hit RBI off the bat of sophomore outfielder
Ryan Cochran (Pittsburgh, Pa./Deer Lakes). Cochran also drove in one of the team's two runs in the bottom of the fifth, lacing an infield single deep in the hole at short to cut the Bison lead in half at 8-4.
Looking to spark a comeback in the eighth, the Gators loaded the bases with consecutive walks following a
Connor Kunkle (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) RBI double. However, Bison shortstop Evan Hegarty made a great diving stop to preserve the lead. Hegarty kept the ball from reaching the outfield grass and recovered in time to record the third out of the inning at the hot corner.
Inside the Box Score
- Allegheny scored five runs on nine hits, while Bethany had 11 runs on 14 hits.
- Both defenses committed a trio of errors.
- Cochran, Noah Philson (Greenville, Pa./Greenville), and Michael Alspaugh (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) each had two hits.
- Cochran was 2-for-5 with a double, one run, and two RBIs.
- Allegheny starter Ben Shields (Charleroi, Pa./Charleroi Area) pitched 4.2 innings, allowing eight runs (six earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts.
- Relievers Matt Gunning (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) and Dawson Thomas (Espyville, Pa./Conneaut Area) each tossed 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
- Bethany starter Payton Zupko struck out nine over 6.0 innings of work en route to the win.
- DeGenova finished with two doubles, one homer, and a game-high five RBIs for the Bison.
News and Notes
- For the first time in three PAC tournament appearances since rejoining the conference, Allegheny lost its first game of the tournament.
- Wednesday's loss is Allegheny's first against Bethany since 1984, the last season the Gators competed in the PAC before joining the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC).
- Cochran logged his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game of the season, while Philson earned his 21st of the spring.
Up Next
The Gators will take on the Cougars of Chatham on Thursday, May 7, at 2:30 p.m., in their second game of the PAC tournament.
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