UC Clermont Claims the 2024 Baseball National Championship
DUBOIS, Pa. – The University of Cincinnati Clermont Cougars take down 4-time National Champions, Penn State Dubois, to claim their second national title in program history on Friday afternoon.
UC Clermont entered the tournament as the #2 overall seed and won their way into the national title game with relative ease, taking down #10 Florida National, #3 Miami Hamilton, and #1 Penn State Dubois in bracket play. After forcing Dubois into the loser's bracket, the Lions fought their way back to face the Cougars in game one of the National Championship.
In the bottom of the first on Thursday evening, UC Clermont got on the board right away after a Logan Wilson double scored Brady Bushman. But Dubois responded immediately to tie the game off of the bat of Bryce Dobson. The Lions then continued to pour it on in the second and third innings, tallying four runs, led primarily by Brett Beith who had RBI's in back to back innings.
The back and forth action continued into the 5th and 6th innings as UC Clermont answered the 4-0 run of Dubois with a 3-0 run of their own to bring the game back within one run (5-4). This time it was Jack Deeds who was leading the charge, hitting an RBI single to left and then crossing the plate himself in the bottom of the fifth. But the late surge from the Cougars wasn't enough to defeat the Lions in the first championship game as they fell by a final score of 7-4.
Clermont was consistent in the game as seven of their players contributed hits in the game, led by Logan Wilson who went 2 for 4 with an RBI. But it was the hot bats of the Lions that dominated game one as four players had multiple hits in the game (Colby Bodtorf - 2, Kyle Elensky - 3, Grant Lillard - 3) all of them capped off by Brett Beith who went 4 for 4 with 2 RBI's.
With the win on Thursday evening, the Lions forced the "if necessary" game. On short rest, UC Clermont was determined to take down the defending National Champions. They opened the scoring in the top of the 1st and never looked back plating runs in the 1st, 4th, 5th and 7th innings to capture the 4-0 shut out victory. Offensively, Clermont was led in the game by Bubba Allen who went 2 for 3 with an RBI while Bryce Rayner and Jackson Roseburrough both went 1 for 3 with an RBI. The standout, and eventual tournament all-tournament team awardee, was Logan Wilson who went 1 for 4 from the plate with an RBI, and threw a complete game from the mound, striking out eight and giving up just four hits in his shutout victory.
The win marks the second in program history for UC Clermont with the last coming in the 2013 season.
Tournament MVP
Jack Deeds - UC Clermont
All-Tournament Team
Joe Requarth - Miami Hamilton
Jeremy De La Cruz - Florida National University
Brock Lambert - Florida National University
Grant Lillard - Penn State Dubois
Colby Bodtorf - Penn State Dubois
Brett Beith - Penn State Dubois
Bryce Rayner - UC Clermont
Logan Wilson - UC Clermont
Liam Morgenrot - UC Clermont