Box Score Abington, Pa. – The Penn State Abington baseball squad took home a victory earlier this afternoon in what was probably one of the longest games in baseball history. The Nittany Lions defeated rivals Penn State Harrisburg by a score of 3-2 on the back of a huge pitching performance from Nicholas Cancelliere to finally complete a game that had been originally played on April 21^st, protested, and was replayed today. Pat Moran had a big day at the plate for the Blue and White, going 2-for-2 including the game winning RBI.
 
Today's game got underway scoreless in the bottom of the first inning with Mike Kerns at the plate, Dustin Kology at third base, and two outs. Penn State Harrisburg (23-14, 10-4 NEAC) managed to get out of the frame with no damage however, and the game basically became a fresh, 6-inning affair. Cancelliere moved to the mound to take over for original starter Connor Macfarlane, and the stocky junior pitched an absolute gem of a game. Harrisburg did manage to get runners at the corners with just one out in the top of the second. However, Cancelliere got out of trouble by inducing a weak fly ball to left and getting an incredible catch against the fence by Dustin Kology in center to keep the game scoreless.
 
Penn State Abington (21-19, 11-3 NEAC) certainly didn't want to let Cancelliere's fine pitching go to waste, and in the bottom of the third, the Blue and White struck for all three of their runs. After a pair of flyouts opened the inning, Mike Kerns started a two-out rally by taking a hit by pitch, his second of three in the game. Dan Hill followed that up by pounding a double into right field, scoring Kerns and giving Abington a 1-0 lead. Tom Ditro came to the plate next and laced a single into right to score Hill. Pat Moran finished up the rally by ripping a double down the left field line, sending home Ditro and giving Abington their 3-0 lead.
 
However, today was all about the fantastic pitching of Nicholas Cancelliere. Getting the first major work of his pitching career at Abington, the junior righty thrived on the mound, going five strong innings. Cancelliere allowed just three hits and walked four, striking out two batters and allowing no runs at all. In the sixth, his final inning of work, he gave away a leadoff walk before striking out the next batter with a great fastball and then getting a lineout to center that Dustin Kology turned into a double play to end the inning. In the top of the seventh, Cancelliere was lifted for a reliever, and Harrisburg finally managed to scratch across a few runs of their own. With the bases loaded on two walks and a single, Kevin Faber came into the game and got the final two outs to earn his sixth save of the season.
 
The victory, also the first of Cancelliere's career, gives Abington an 11-3 record in the NEAC to close out the regular season, good enough for a tie for first place in the conference standings. Gallaudet, who also holds an 11-3 NEAC record, will host the NEAC tournament next weekend as a result of the third tiebreaker procedure. The first tiebreaker is the result of the games between the two tied teams, which was a split at Gallaudet on April 20^th. Next, the record of both teams against the third place squad, Harrisburg, is compared. Once again, both teams swept Harrisburg, so a third tiebreaker was necessary, the common records against Penn State Berks. In this case, Abington split their doubleheader against Berks, while Gallaudet got another sweep, and thus earn the rights to host the tournament starting Friday. Full information on seeding and the tournament schedule can be found on abingtonsports.com as it is released by the conference.