DuBois, PA. – After four straight elimination game wins in two days, the Apprentice Baseball team had an opportunity to reach the National Championship game.  However, they would first have to face #2 seed Cincinnati-Clermont Thursday morning.  It would be another challenge for the Builders and they would have to, once again, pull off the upset in order to advance.   

Apprentice opened up the first inning with back-to-back homeruns from Thomas Packert and Maxwell Burcham to take the quick lead, 2-0. In the bottom of the second, the Cougars loaded the bases but Anekeen Rodriquez was able to pitch out of the trouble, getting his team out of the inning.  However UC-Clermont would get the bases loaded again and this time they were able to tie the game at 2-2 as the game headed into the fourth inning.  The score continued to stay tied, until Riggs Ellis hit a two-out RBI single, scoring Burcham to regain the one run advantage in the top of the fifth.  Unfortunately, the Cougars tied the game in the seventh inning, sending it into extra innings.  However, as he has done all postseason, Packert came to the plate with two out and two on, and delivered a 3-run homerun to win the game, giving the Builders the chance to play for a National Championship.

Packert finished the game, going 3-4 with 4 RBI's and 2 HR's, while Burcham and Ellis also added 2 hits each, to go along with Burcham's HR.  The Apprentice pitching staff held UC-Clermont to only 3 runs and were able to shut down a number of scoring opportunities.  The Builders will now face Miami-Hamilton, who handed them their only loss of the Small College World Series, later today at 2:30pm.