PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia University baseball team defeated Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) opponent USciences in the opening round of the Bill Giles Invitational 4-1 Thursday afternoon on Alumni Field.

The Rams improve to 9-14-1 overall and 4-1 in the CACC. With the victory, Philadelphia advances to the final of the Bill Giles Tournament, which will be played on Wednesday, April 17 at Citizens Bank Park against either West Chester or Wilmington (Del.). This is the first time that the Rams have made the final since 2007.

USciences (9-8, 2-3 CACC) took an early 1-0 lead in the first on a Kyle Davis sacrifice fly that brought home Nick Szalejko, who opened the game with a single and stole second.

The game remained 1-0 until the fifth when the Rams took advantage of two Devil errors to push across three runs and take a 3-1 lead.

Junior second baseman John Sczepanski (Lafayette Hill, Pa./La Salle College HS) walked to the start inning and moved to second after junior third baseman Chris Pelaez (Miami, Fla./Sunset) was safe at first on a sacrifice bunt attempt thanks to an error. Then, junior left fielder Shane Yoshiyama (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) came to the plate to lay down a bunt. Devils' pitcher Dan McMahon fielded the bunt and threw wide attempting to cut off the lead runner to load the bases.

Sophomore shortstop Hunter Greenwood (Salisbury, Md./James M. Bennett) made USciences pay with a two-run double to left to put the Rams in front. Sophomore right fielder Ken McCormick (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) knocked in the third run on a line out.

Junior catcher TJ Burgmann (Philadelphia, Pa./La Salle College HS) tacked on an insurance run in the eighth with a single passed a drawn in third baseman to score McCormick, who doubled to start the inning and went to third on a ground out by senior first baseman Jeff Bohus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill E.).

Senior starter Russell Trojan (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) turned in six solid innings of work to earn his third win of the year (3-3). He struck out three, while allowing one run on six hits. Freshman Luke Floer (Brewster, N.Y./North Salem) threw a scoreless ninth to record his third save.

McMahon took the loss in a complete-game effort. He gave up four runs—one earned—on eight hits and struck out two.

Pelaez and McCormick each recorded two hits for the Rams. Jon McMahon was 3-for-4 for the Devils.

Philadelphia hits the road for a CACC doubleheader at Nyack on Saturday, March 30 at noon.