May 8, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

Allegheny’s Tyson Bryant-Dawson entered Wednesday’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament game against Waynesburg as the league’s RBI leader.

Bryant-Dawson extended his conference-leading mark with two RBI, for 47 this season, in the Gators’ 4-2 victory at Ross Memorial Park.

Bryant-Dawson’s double in the top of the eighth inning scored Matt Jennings to break a 2-2 tie. Jennings led off the frame with an infield single.

“He (Bryant-Dawson) is just a special player,” Allegheny coach Brandon Crum said. “He’s got tremendous bat speed and great plate awareness, and he keeps getting better and is a tough out. We got a lot of fire power in the bats, and that is kind of what won the game. We had a lot of big hits in key counts.”

Waynesburg starting pitcher and West Greene graduate Dalton Lucey was relieved for Carmichaels graduate Gavin Pratt following Bryant-Dawson’s double.

“I think when you get to this point of the season you expect really good pitching,” Waynesburg coach Perry Cunningham said. “They had a few better at-bats than we did and had a few more hits than we did. We talked to our guys about the little things of the game, and we made too many of those little mistakes today.”

Allegheny’s Brady Nolin was hit by a pitch and William Wolff reached on a fielder’s choice with Nolin being forced out at second base. Alejandro Samayoa was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Bryant-Dawson scored when Jonathan Sharp was walked with the bases loaded for a 4-2 lead.

Lucey yielded four earned runs on seven hits over 7⅓ innings. He struck out six and walked two.

“Their lineup is really, really good,” Cunningham said. “They had three or four extra-base hits out of seven hits. We want to have the local talent come here and play for us. I think Greene County baseball is as good as it’s been in the 15 years since I’ve been here.”

Gators starting pitcher and winning pitcher Mark Schweickert allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits in 7⅓ innings. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

Walker Cunningham pitched the final 1⅔ innings for the save. He didn’t allow a run or hit with a strikeout and walk.

“Mark Schweickert did an outstanding job staying patient with our offense until we got some things going,” Crum said. “A pitcher’s duel was exactly what it was. Dalton Lucey absolutely pitched a gem today, and he pitched his butt off against us three weeks ago. We knew it would be a tough outing to get through.”

Allegheny opened the scoring in the top of the sixth with two runs on two hits.

Jennings led off with a double and moved to third on JD Robinson’s bunt attempt. Lucey threw to third in an attempt to get Jennings out but Jennings beat the tag.

Jennings scored when Tyson Bryant-Dawson reached on a fielder’s choice and Bryant-Dawson scored on Brady Nolin’s double to left centerfield.

Waynesburg got the two runs back in the top of the inning when Alec Engelmore and Mike Bell scored on Marcos Mendez’s book-rule double.

Engelmore singled to lead off the inning and Bell reached on a fielder’s choice. Engelmore and Bell advanced to second on third on a passed ball before scoring on Mendez’s hit.

Allegheny (26-13) plays Grove City (25-12) today at 6 p.m.

The Yellow Jackets (23-18) face Washington & Jefferson (29-12) at 2:30 p.m. Waynesburg needs a win to extend its season.

Grove City, 4-0

Nick Guidas threw eight shutout innings in Grove City’s 4-0 victory over Westminster.

Guidas yielded three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks to improve to 6-3. Evan Umland sent the Titans down 1-2-3 in the ninth with two strikeouts.

The Wolverines scored three runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Caison Holland, Josh Minnich and Markus Williams for a 4-0 lead. Grove City scored an unearned run in the fifth.