West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

(WEST LAWN, PA)---West Virginia State rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 4-4, but Kutztown's explosive offense proved to be too much as the Yellow Jackets were eliminated from the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional by a 10-4 count.

The host Golden Bears (39-13) showed why they were the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament, pounding out 14 hits, two of which were home runs to knock out the Yellow Jackets (32-16). James Quigley and Matt Albaugh hit the long ball and along with Corey Buletza each drove in three runs.

After struggling to score runs over the course of the first two games, the Golden Bears scored four runs before their defense even took the field. The four-run first inning was the Golden Bears' second straight four-run outburst. Kutztown scored four runs in the ninth inning to defeat Mansfield Friday afternoon.

Buletza lined a single right back up the middle and advanced to third on a Jared Frey line drive to right field. Shayne Houck lined a single to center to score Buletza and Quigley brought everyone home driving a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left.

Jonathan Grosse cruised through the first two innings on the mound before hitting a bump in the third. The fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets had several line drives find holes in the outfield and got three runs back to cut the deficit to one.

The game was even at four in the fourth inning after Dave Myers doubled down the right field line to score Bill Smith. Smith and designated hitter Ryne Holstine each had three hits for the Yellow Jackets, while Myers had a team-high two RBIs.

Grosse allowed just one more run and two hits over the next three innings to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay. He finished with seven plus innings, striking out three to earn the win.

Albaugh broke the tie in the sixth crushing a 2-2 fastball out of the park.

“They started to come back before my at bat,” said Albaugh. “They balked to put Kacelowicz on second and I was just trying to drive him in from there. I got a pitch that I could handle, I barreled up and it just went.”

Buletza added more breathing room for the Golden Bears with a two-run single through the box to build a 9-5 lead in eighth. Albaugh gave KU its final tally with an RBI triple down the leftfield line to score Mike Dugan, who led off the ninth with a single.

Jordan Garcia worked a hitless 1.1 inning before Mike Bucklin recorded the final two outs and secured Kutztown’s trip to Championship Sunday.

West Chester, at 2-0, will meet the Golden Bears on Sunday at 1 p.m. regardless of its outcome against California on Saturday evening. If West Chester wins, Cal will be eliminated, but if Cal wins it will head to the championship game and await the winner of Kutztown-West Chester contest.