DUBOIS — It’s often said the true character of an athlete or team doesn’t show itself until you see how they deal with adversity.

The Penn State DuBois baseball team passed that test with flying colors Monday, but it certainly wasn’t easy as it held off PSUAC foe Penn State Schuylkill, 6-5, at Showers Field to open the USCAA Small College World Series with a victory.

It was the first meeting of the season between the two teams, which didn’t play in the regular season or during the PSUAC Tournament where both teams went out with a loss.

DuBois suffered a tough championship Sunday sweep at the hands of Mont Alto in the conference tourney, with Mont Alto claiming the title and top seed for the World Series. Schuylkill, the top team in the east Division entering the PSUAC Tournament, was eliminated from that event by PSU Shenango on Day 2.

Fast forward to Monday, and all three Penn State branch campus squads collected wins at the World Series.

Schuylkill, seeded seventh, pulled out a thrilling 9-8 win in 11 innings over Miami-Middletown in the opening game of the Series Monday to earn its matchup with No. 2 Penn State DuBois.

That contest proved to be a battle of big innings surrounded by pitching and defense — and fortunately for Penn State DuBois it came on the right side in that battle. DuBois’ huge six-run bottom of the first proved to be just enough offense to best Schuylkill’s five-run top of the third.

DuBois finished off the one-run victory thanks in large part to a diving catch in center by Nick Cagliola in the sixth and a strong relief outing by Josh Ross — both of which kind of went hand-in-hand.

Ross came on with two on and one out in the top of the sixth in a 6-5 game and worked out of the jam. He got Conner Licklider to ground into a fielder’s choice for the second out before Cagliola hustled in to make a diving catch on a sink line drive hit by Owen Zimmerman to end the inning with runners on first and second.

Should Cagliola not made the catch, and the ball got past him, Schuylkill likely would have found itself with a 7-6 lead and a runner on base.

Instead, the impressive grab ended the rally, and Ross went on to enjoy a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to finish off the game and earn a save. Third baseman Kyle Elensky made a nice defensive play of his own in the seventh, diving to his left to field a ball hit by Roam Cieless before throwing him out to start the frame. Elensky made a similar play earlier the game.

With the win, DuBois advanced in the winner’s bracket and plays third-seeded Apprentice School tonight at 7 p.m. in a battle of USCAA powers.

Meanwhile, Penn State Mont Alto plays Salem in the other winner’s game at 4 p.m. Mont Alto bested Central Penn, 5-4, in the final opening day game Monday night. Salem beat Mid-Atlantic Christian, 10-6 in 8 innings, in its opener Monday.

Schuylkill plays an elimination game tonight at Stern Field at 7 p.m. against the winner of another elimination contest pitting Central Maine Community College against Florida National.

DuBois sent its ace Connor Cherry to the mound against Schuylkill, and the righty worked around a two-out single by Zimmerman in the top of the first. His offense then staked him to a 6-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Schuylkill starter Brenan Adams struggled to find the strike zone from the get-go and promptly walked Colby Bodtorf, Kyle Elensky and Isaac Tiracorda to load the bases with no outs.

Grant Lillard then singled in a pair of runs before Jake Sikora walked to reload the bases. Adams countered with a strikeout, but DuBois didn’t let him off the hook as Alex Gavlock and Bryce Dobson ripped back-to-back, two-run doubles to make it 6-0 just like that. Dobson’s double hit off the very top of the wall in left-center.

Dobson’s double knocked Adams from the game, as Schuylkill turned to Aidan Barner in relief. He quickly got his team out of the inning and proceeded to throw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to help keep Schuylkill in the game. He allowed four hits while striking out six and walking just two.

DuBois put two on in the second against Barner, as Bodtorf singled and Elensky walked, but Barner stranded both runners in scoring position. From there, DuBois had just four base runners the rest of the game.

Dobson was stranded at second in the third after drawing a two-out walk, while Lillard was left at third in the fifth after ripping a leadoff double. DuBois put two on in the seventh as pinch-hitter Braylen Corter and Bodtorf each had singles with one out but were stranded. Lillard and Bodtorf both went 2-for-3 in the win, with Lillard having the two RBIs.

Meanwhile, Cherry worked out of a mini-jam in the second before Schuylkill got to the righty for five runs on four hits in the third to make it a game at 6-5. The blow was a grand slam by Yostin Guerrero that made it a one-run game.

However, Cherry worked out of the inning with his team still leading by a run. That proved to be the final margin.

Cherry put up zeros in the fourth and fifth, getting a double from shortstop Bodtorf on a line drive with two on in the fourth. Cherry allowed a leadoff double to Kevin Rodriguez in the sixth, which spelled the end for him.

DuBois turned to Travis Keister in the relief, and the lefty promptly struck out pinch hitter Andrew Klotz but then walked leadoff man Rayjay Marmelejos.

That prompted another change to Ross, who got Licklider to hit a grounder into the whole at short, where Bodtorf fielded it and went to third to get the lead runner for out No. 2. Cagliola then made his diving catch on Zimmerman’s liner to save the day for DuBois and preserve what finished as a 6-5 victory.

The USCAA announced its All-American and Academic All-American Teams Sunday during opening festivities.

DuBois had four players earn All-American honors.

Lillard made the USCAA First Team despite being just an honorable mention in the PSUAC, while Tiracorda was a Second Team selection. Bodtorf and Elensky were each Honorable Mentions.

When it came to Academic All-Americans, Penn State DuBois had 10 — Cagliola, Corter, Dobson, Owen Graham, Ben Gritzer, Jorge Rodriguez, Jeff Romano, Casey Serine, Zack Tiracorda and Zach Witherow.

PENN STATE DUBOIS 6,

PENN STATE SCHUYLKILL 5

Score by Innings

Schuylkill 005 000 0 — 5

DuBois 600 000 x — 6

PSU Schuylkill—5

Rayjay Marmolejos rf 3010, Conner Licklider 2b 4000, owen Zimmerman 1b 3120, Roman Cieless ss 3110, Brendan Adams dh/p 1000, Hunter Sharrow ph/dh 2100, Aidan Barner p 0000, Brandon Pupek lf 3101, Yostin Guerrero cf 3124, Kevin Rodriguez 3b 3010, Charles Hopper c 2000, Andrew Klotz ph 1000. Totals: 28-5-7-5.

PSU DuBois—6

Colby Bodtorf ss 3120, Kyle Elensky 3b 2100, Isaac Tiracorda lf 3100, Grant Lillard c 3122, Jake Sikora 1b 2100, Ezeck Olinger 1b 0000, Aaron Miller dh 2000, Cole Slaugenhoup ph 1000, Connor Cherry p 0000, Travis Keister p 0000, Josh Ross p 0000, Alex Gavlock 2b 3112, Bryce Dobson rf 2012, Nick Cagliola cf 2000, Braylen Corter ph 1010. Totals: 24-6-7-6.

Errors: Schuylkill 0, DuBois 1. LOB: Schuylkill 6, DuBois 6. DP: DuBois 1. 2B: Marmolejos, Rodriguez; Lillard, Gavlock, Dobson. HR: Guerrero. HBP: Cieless (by Cherry), Sharrow (by Cherry), Pupek (by Cherry). SB: Elensky, Tiracorda, Lillard, Dobson. CS: Dobson (by Hopper).

Pitching

Schuylkill: Brenan Adams-1/3 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Aidan Barner-5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 SO.

DuBois: Connor Cherry-5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO. 3 HB; Travis Keister-1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO; Josh Ross-1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO.

Winning pitcher: Cherry. Losing pitcher: Adams. Save: Ross.