JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Junior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) drove in a career-high seven runs, and sophomore Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) hit a mammoth three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Bloomsburg University baseball team to a 14-3 walk-off seven-inning victory over West Chester University on Saturday morning in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament at Point Stadium. The Huskies advance to the title game later Saturday evening with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

With the victory, Bloomsburg improved to 34-14 overall while the Golden Rams dropped to 31-14 on the season. The Huskies will now have two opportunities to claim the program's first conference championship since 1965 as they are the only team without a loss in the postseason. Three teams remain as the Huskies' potential championship game opponent - West Chester, Seton Hill, and Cal U.

The Huskies have been nothing short of sensational through the first three games of the tournament as they have outscored #21 Mercyhurst, #7 Millersville, and perennial power West Chester by a combined 33-4 total and have posted a pair of shortened victories due to the ten-run rule in the playoffs. Bloomsburg has gotten off to fast starts in each of the first three games with 15 of its runs coming in the first inning. Saturday was no different as the Huskies jumped out to a 6-0 advantage after an inning against the Golden Rams.

The pitching matchup was a replay of the first game of the regular-season-ending doubleheader at Danny Litwhiler Field as junior righthander JJ Spehrley (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) was matched up against West Chester junior righthander David Mervis. Mervis won that game by a 3-1 final after allowing a run on three hits in a complete-game victory. Spehrley, meanwhile, earned a no-decision after giving up only an unearned run in five innings.

After Spehrley got out of a first-inning jam as the Golden Rams left runners stranded at second and third, the Huskies jumped on Mervis for six runs in the home half to take a 6-0 advantage.

Junior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second on a walk to sophomore Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty). Senior Ryan Shiffer (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) followed with a bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. Newbert walked to plate Holmes for the first run and then sophomore Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) was hit by a pitch to bring home Burcin for the second run. Mervis retired junior Nate Krizan (Montoursville, Pa./Home School) for the first out of the inning, but redshirt freshman Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) followed with an infield single to drive home Shiffer for a 3-0 lead. Swiger then laced a bases-clearing double to left field as Bloomsburg built the advantage to 6-0.

West Chester scored an unearned run in the top of the second against Spehrley and then pulled to within 6-2 in the top of the third inning with an RBI single from Mike Krusinski before Spehrley got out of the jam with strikeouts of JR Gifford and Jon Hansen to keep the Huskies ahead by four.

Bloomsburg got a run back in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 7-2. OFier drew a leadoff walk and then advanced to second when Krizan was hit by a pitch. Chasanov sacrificed both runners ahead 90 feet, and Swiger was able to plate OFier on a run-scoring fielder's choice. West Chester Joe Zirolli tried to gun down OFier at the plate, but the sophomore slid in ahead of the tag to give the Huskies a five-run lead.

Swiger was again in the middle of the offense in the bottom of the fifth as the Huskies plated three runs to take a 10-2 lead. Back-to-back one-out walks to OFier and Krizan ended the afternoon for Mervis and put Bloomsburg back in business. Tyler Forbes entered and was greeted by a sharp single to center off the bat of Chasanov to load the bases with one out. Swiger then doubled over the head of the center fielder to bring home all three runners and give the Huskies their largest lead of the day.

Swiger's seven runs batted in marked a career-high and were the most by a Huskies' player since Damin Muth drove home seven in a 17-11 victory over Kutztown at the Newport News Builder Invitational on February 25, 2017.

West Chester cut the deficit to 10-3 on an RBI single by Zach Wright in the top of the sixth, but the Huskies answered right back with a run in the home half to take an 11-3 advantage. Shiffer reached on a one-out double, stole third, and then scored when the throw from the catcher went down the left field line.

Junior Ed Herbener (Drums, Pa./MMI Preparatory School) came on in the seventh and allowed a pair of walks, and an error as West Chester loaded the bases with one out. Senior Trey Hinkle (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) came on and threw two pitches, getting Krusinski to ground into an inning-ending double play with an excellent stretch by Shiffer at first securing the twin-killing.

In the home half of the seventh, Reed reached on an infield single and then advanced to third on a double by Shiffer. Newbert then crushed the first pitch he saw from Alex Gouveia over the left-center field fence to give the Huskies the walk-off victory.

It was Newbert's second home run of the tournament as he hit a first-inning grand slam against Millersville in Friday's 7-1 victory over the Marauders. It was his eighth round-tripper of the season.

Spehrley improved to 6-2 on the season after going the first six innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits while walking one and tying a career-high with eight strikeouts. Herbener and Hinkle combined to toss a scoreless seventh. Mervis suffered his first loss of the season as he fell to 5-1 on the year. He allowed nine runs on four hits in four and one-third innings while walking five and striking out six.

The Huskies had ten hits with Shiffer going 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Swiger went 2-for-4 with seven RBI while Chasanov went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Newbert's only hit was the big fly in the seventh as he went 1-for-4 with two runs scored and four driven in. OFier scored three times despite not recording an official at-bat. He walked three times and was hit by a pitch in his four appearances.

Bloomsburg will play for its first conference championship in 54 years against an opponent to be determined. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Point Stadium.