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BUTLER, Pa. – A stellar performance from Pitt-Johnstown starter Derek Younker overcame a late rally effort from the Bloomsburg University baseball team Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament as the Mountain Cats held off the Huskies, 2-1.

Pitt-Johnstown, the No. 3 seed from the Western Division, improves to 23-22 overall while the Huskies, seeded second from the East, fall to 28-19.

Younker and Bloomsburg starter Casey Cooperman (Allentown/Parkland) exchanged scoreless innings through the first six frames before the Mountain Cats finally broke through in the top of the seventh. Jake Warner started the UPJ uprising with a double to right center, the first extra base hit for either side, and moved to third on a ground out. UPJ broke the scoreless deadlock with a double to left from Matt McGhee scoring Warner from third and a run-scoring single from Ernesto Rizzitano gave the Mountain Cats a two-run edge.

The Huskies were kept off balance all day by Younker, the UPJ ace, until finally threatening with a rally in the bottom of the ninth. Nick Mazza (Carbondale/Carbondale) led off with a double to left and Damin Muth (Breinigsville/Parkland) was then hit by a pitch. Brian Almand (Haddon Township, NJ/Paul VI) followed by putting down a perfectly placed bunt, leaving the UPJ defense with no play to load the bases and no outs.

Joey Casselberry (Eagleville/Methacton) bounced into a double play ball, scoring Mazza from third and sending pinch runner Pete Edgar (Hatfield/North Penn) to third. With the tying run standing 90 feet from home, Younker picked up a game-ending strikeout to send the Mountain Cats on to Friday's second round.

Bloomsburg did not send a runner past first base until a one-out double from Tim Ravel (Sinking Spring/Wilson) in the eighth vs. Younker, who moved to 8-4 on the year with a complete game on the hill. He scattered eight hits, allowing one earned run with no walks and five strikeouts, throwing 76 of his 111 pitches for strikes.

Cooperman (6-5) matched his counterpart nearly pitch-for-pitch, allowing two runs on eight hits with no walks and two strikeouts, finding the strike zone with 76 of his 109 pitches. Two seventh inning doubles were the only extra base hits against the Bloomsburg senior right-hander.

Almand, Mazza and Ravel all tallied two hits apiece for the Huskies who matched UPJ with eight hits on the day.

Warner went 3-for-4 to power the UPJ offense as the only batter to hit safely more than once vs. Cooperman.

UPJ advances to take on the winner of Seton Hill vs. Kutztown on Friday while the Huskies now await word on a possible NCAA Tournament bid. Bloomsburg sits squarely on the bubble as it has ranked sixth in each of the first two NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rankings with the top six teams earning spots in the Atlantic Regional Tournament. One team below the Huskies in the last regional rankings, however, already has clinched a bid - Winston-Salem State, which ranked seventh in the last rankings, secured an automatic bid as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champions. The tournament field will be announced on May 11.