GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona baseball team played its first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference doubleheader of the season on Sunday afternoon, and the Lions came away with a win and a loss while taking on Pitt-Greensburg at Bobcat Park.

In game one, Pitt-Greensburg (12-4, 1-1 AMCC) rallied from an early deficit to win on a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh. Penn State Altoona (8-11, 1-1 AMCC) bounced back in the nightcap, pulling out a 13-12 victory to notch its first conference win.

Game One: Pitt-Greensburg 4, Penn State Altoona 3

The Lions took a tough loss in game one of Sunday's doubleheader, losing on a walk-off to Pitt-Greensburg. Penn State Altoona led 3-0 for three-and-a-half innings, but the Bobcats put two on the board in the bottom of the fourth, then scored two more in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Lions by one.

Eli Wiles (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) made a strong start on the pitching mound for the Lions in the loss, as the right-hander went 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven Bobcat hitters while surrendering three earned runs. Alex Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) finished the game in relief.

At the plate, Corey Chamberlain (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) went 2-for-4 with a double and a run batted in, and Timothy Richard (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored.

The Lions capitalized on two Pitt-Greensburg errors in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. After Richard and Jonathan Rauch (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) reached on infield errors to start the game, Chamberlain's double to left plated one run and Grant Barberich's (Leesburg, VA/Heritage) groundout to shortstop brought in the other.

Penn State Altoona increased its lead to 3-0 in the second. Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) led off with a single to shortstop, moved up to second on Alex Hlivia's (Pennsylvania Furnace, PA/State College) sacrifice bunt, took third on a passed ball, and then scored on Richard's two-out double to center.

Pitt-Greensburg got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, when Mason Boehm's two-run homer narrowed the Penn State Altoona advantage to 3-2.

The Lions' one-run lead held up until the bottom of the seventh, when the Bobcats rallied to win the game. With one out, Will Thorp reached on an infield error, then scored on Christopher Hammond's double in the next at-bat. Ben Aftanas followed with a single to put runners at the corners, and James Domer's RBI single to left gave Pitt-Greensburg the victory in game one.

Game Two: Penn State Altoona 13, Pitt-Greensburg 12

Game two of the doubleheader followed a much different script from the first game, with both teams combining for 25 runs on 32 hits in a high-scoring affair. Leading by one in the bottom of the ninth, the Lions were able to hang on for the win, as Pitt-Greensburg came up emptyhanded after putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Five different Lion hitters had a multi-hit game, led by three hits apiece from Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) and Garrett Alauzen (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley). Hillard was 3-for-6 with a double and three runs scored, and Alauzen was 3-for-6 with three RBI, one run scored, and one stolen base.

Rauch batted 2-for-5 with a home run, four RBI, and a run scored, Chamberlain was 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored, and Tyreke Green (Altoona, PA/Altoona) was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a stolen base.

Sam Homan (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) started on the mound and finished with a no decision, pitching 3 1/3 innings and yielding six earned runs while striking out five batters. Tristin Lockett (Mifflin County, PA/Mifflin County) tossed 3 2/3 innings in relief and recorded his second win of the season, limiting Pitt-Greensburg to just one earned run while notching four strikeouts. Mack Meengs (State College, PA/State College) pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings with two strikeouts to pick up his third save of the season.

The Lions wasted little time establishing a lead, getting four runs across in the top of the first. After Zach Ingold (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, Rauch hit his second home run of the season to put Penn State Altoona on the board. After that, Chamberlain and Hillard reached on back-to-back singles and both moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Richard. Alauzen drove in one run with his single to center, and Hlivia's sac fly to right made it 4-0.

Penn State Altoona increased its lead to 5-0 in the third, as Hillard led off with a base hit to center and later scored on a wild pitch during a strikeout.

Pitt-Greensburg trimmed its deficit to two in the bottom half of the third, using RBI singles from Jace Cappellini and Colin Solinski, along with an RBI groundout from Randy Hubbard, to make it 5-3.

The Lions came back with a two-run, two-out single from Alauzen in the top of the fourth, boosting their lead back to four runs, 7-3.

But Pitt-Greensburg responded in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game. RBI singles from Cappellini and Solinski made it 7-5, and two more runs came home on an outfield error to even the score at 7-7.

Penn State Altoona reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh with a pair of two-out hits. Alauzen started the inning with a single to center, and walks by Anthony Iannizzi (Leesburg, VA/Heritage) and Ingold loaded the bases with two outs. Rauch delivered a two-RBI single to left to put Penn State Altoona back in front, and Chamberlain came up next with an RBI single to left that made it 10-7.

Pitt-Greensburg answered immediately, scoring fifth in the bottom of the seventh to take its first lead of the game. A trio of run-scoring singles by Cappellini, Hubbard, and Frankie Sebastiano knotted the score at 10-10, and Thorp's two-run double to right gave the Bobcats a 12-10 advantage.

Penn State Altoona took back the lead in the top of the eighth. Richard started the frame with a single to left and later scored on a passed ball, and Green came through with the go-ahead hit on his two-run single to center that put the Lions on top, 13-12.

Meengs worked his way out of potential scoring situations for Pitt-Greensburg in the eighth and ninth to preserve the win for Penn State Altoona. In the bottom of the eighth, the Bobcats got Domer to third base with two outs, but Meengs induced a flyout to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Pitt-Greensburg managed to load the bases with two outs, but Meengs got a popout to end the threat.

Penn State Altoona baseball returns to non-conference action for its next games, as the Lions will hit the road for Chambersburg to face Wilson College in a doubleheader this upcoming Wednesday, March 29 at 1 p.m.