We Are The Champions! UC Clermont wins the 2013 USCAA Baseball National Chamionship

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May 2013: The UC Clermont Cougars Baseball Team is the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national champion! The Cougars came back from a Game 1 loss earlier in the day to beat the Penn State Greater Allegheny Nittany Lions 6-3 to clinch the Small College World Series.
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The Cougars, a No. 3 seed, were on a 20-game winning streak before losing Game 1 to the Nittany Lions yesterday in the first of two games that the teams played against one another. The National Championship tournament was played at Pullman Park in Butler, Pa.
“I am very proud of this team. We had four all-American’s this year and good senior leadership – they just never quit. At one point in the final game I called them together and told them they deserved to win and told them to relax and play baseball like they know how to play. We are losing only a few guys, so I expect to be back there next year," said Jack Harbison, Cougar’s Interim Head Baseball Coach.
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“We are all proud of our athletic students who proved that they are champions both on the ball diamond and in the classroom. Reds scout Brian Wilson (namesake of the Cougar's home field) is looking down, smiling and saying ‘well done, guys,’” said Dean Gregory Sojka.
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A recap of the Game from the USCAA website https://uscaabaseball.prestosports.com/2013/Clermont_Wins
.  The story of this game was the sensational pitching effort of Cougars’ right-hander Ryan Beard, the 2013 USCAA Small College World Series Tournament MVP. Beard, coming off a complete game shutout of The Apprentice School the day before, pitched eight more innings giving up only one run and striking out five. In the past two day Beard has tallied 217 pitches, but his gutsy performance held the Lions in check and allowed the Cougars offense a chance to come from behind and earn their first ever USCAA Baseball National Championship.
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The Nittany Lions, entering with 44 hits over their previous three games, got off to a hot start once again when the second batter of the game, Mike Visloski, homered over the right field wall off Cougars starter Joey Wahl. Wahl, who pitched in 5.1 innings of relief in the first championship game earlier in the day, went just one inning giving up two runs before turning the ball over to Beard.  Greater Allegheny tallied two more runs in the second inning off a sacrifice fly from All-Tournament Team member Alente Johnson and an RBI groundout from Visloski. Cincinnati-Clermont would respond with one run in the bottom of the second on an RBI from Trevor Cunningham. From there, it was a battle between Lions’ starter Aaron McGee and Beard, who would trade zeros until the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth Cougars’ catcher and All-Tournament Team member Mike Gastrich smashed a two-run home run, his second of the tournament, to tie the game. Cincinnati-Clermont wasn’t done, as they would add three more runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBI’s from Josh Reinhart, Steve Hendrickson, and Gastrich to complete their scoring on the night.
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Penn State Greater Allegheny’s Oliver Girman, an All-Tournament Team member, went 3-5, and pitched two scoreless innings in the game to lead the Lions. The Cougars’ offense combined for 14 hits in the game, highlighted by multi-hit efforts from All-Tournament Team member John Kennedy, Ryan Mummert, Reinhart and Gastrich.
The second-place finish for Penn State Greater Allegheny is their best in school history. For all results from the 2013 USCAA Small College World Series, visit the tournament website.
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For more information about the UC Clermont baseball team, visit http://www.ucclermont.edu/athletics/MensBaseball.html
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by Mae Hanna