PITTSBURGH – The Penn State Altoona baseball team pulled off its second doubleheader sweep of the season on Tuesday afternoon, when the Lions began their Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule with a pair of wins over La Roche University at the Baierl Athletic Complex.

Penn State Altoona (10-12, 2-0 AMCC) started the day with a 6-1 victory, then posted a 13-7 win over La Roche (6-16, 2-4 AMCC) to clinch the sweep.

Game One: Penn State Altoona 6, La Roche 1

The Lions limited La Roche to just one run while allowing only five hits and no walks, and Penn State Altoona did enough with the bats to earn a five-run win.

Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) made his first collegiate start on the mound for Penn State Altoona and recorded his first career win and complete game. In seven innings, the right-hander gave up five hits and a run while striking out six Redhawk batters.

Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) batted 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, three runs scored, two RBI, and a stolen base. Fred Guarino IV (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) also hit a home run, and Chamberlain had a double and an RBI.

Penn State Altoona scored a run in the top of the first, after Hillard doubled with one out and later scored on a stolen base. The Lions upped their lead to 3-0 in the third, when Hillard hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left.

Penn State Altoona used the long ball to make it 4-0 in the fourth, when Guarino launched his fourth home run of the season, a solo homer to left. In the fifth, Hillard singled, then stole second, and advanced home on a two-base error by La Roche. One batter later, Chamberlain's RBI double to center put the Lions up 6-0.

La Roche spoiled the shutout bid in the bottom of the fifth, when a groundout allowed Brandon Snyder to score from third base. But Chamberlain and the Lions yielded no further damage, and Penn State Altoona closed out the first half of the twinbill with a solid win.

Game Two: Penn State Altoona 13, La Roche 7

The Lions jumped on La Roche early, getting seven runs home in the top of the first en route to a six-run victory.

Penn State Altoona got another strong start on the pitching mound, as right-hander Jimmy Mento (Gates County, NC/Gates County) went 5 2/3 innings, gave up just one earned run, and struck out three batters to secure his first collegiate win. Cole Suba (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) tossed 2 1/3 innings in relief with no earned runs allowed, and Sean Wing (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) pitched a scoreless ninth with one strikeout.

At the plate, Hillard was 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI, two runs scored, and a walk. Guarino went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, an RBI, and a run scored, and Alex Hlivia (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) was also 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs scored.

Michael Labisi (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) went 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) walked three times, scored three runs, and stole two bases.

Penn State Altoona established a 7-0 lead in the top of the first. Chamberlain's sacrifice fly scored the game's first run, and Hillard scored on a pair of La Roche errors. Later in the inning, Labisi's two-run single, Tyreke Green's (Altoona, PA/Altoona) bases-loaded walk, and Hillard's two-RBI base hit gave the Lions a seven-run advantage to start the game.

Guarino's sac fly to right extended Penn State Altoona's lead to 8-0 in the second, and Hlivia scored on a stolen base in the third to make it 9-0.

La Roche got two in the bottom of the fourth, but an Aidan Donovan (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) RBI single to center in the sixth got a run back for Penn State Altoona, setting the Lions' lead at 10-2.

The Redhawks made it a six-run difference in the sixth by drawing a pair of bases-loaded walks. But Penn State Altoona answered in the top of the seventh with RBI singles from Brian Chelli (West Hartford, CT/Hall) and Ingold, and a Hillard sac fly in the eighth boosted the Lions' lead to 13-4.

La Roche added two runs to its total in the eighth, but Penn State Altoona finished the contest with a six-run cushion to wrap up a doubleheader sweep.

Next up, Penn State Altoona baseball returns home to host AMCC opponent Alfred State College for a doubleheader this Saturday, April 5, starting at 1 p.m.