CHESTER, Pa. — In game one of the Elizabethtown College baseball team's doubleheader on Saturday, senior
Wayne Leonard was able to do something not many people have been able to do this season: keep Widener's offense in check.
Leonard scattered three hits over his six innings of work to pick up his first win of the season on the mound. The senior gave up one run to the Pride, who had averaged more than eight runs a game entering the contest.
Todd Leister pitched a scoreless seventh to secure a 4-1 win in E-town's (5-8, 1-1) Commonwealth Conference opener.
E-town got two of its runs off of Widener's Jason Ferrie in the top of the second inning. After Ferrie walked the bases loaded, leadoff hitter
Kyle Gable smacked an RBI single for a 1-0 lead. With the bases still full,
Andrew Gordon followed up with an RBI single of his own to give the Jays a 2-0 advantage.
The Blue Jays' offense came to life again in the top of the fourth when
Steve Motika doubled to left field to plate Gable and
Kevin Berkheiser who had both singled earlier in the season. Berkheiser had a solid day, scoring two runs while going 3-for-3 at the dish.
The four runs were more than enough for Leonard, who yielded his only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Game two of the doubleheader was scoreless until the third inning. E-town drew first blood thanks to the slick base running of Gable and Gordon. After a leadoff single, Gable stole second and advanced to third on a Gordon single. After Gordon swiped second, Motika drove in Gable on a single to center. Gordon scored later in the inning on an RBI groundout by
Matt Reade to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.
The lead was short lived, however, because the Pride put up a five spot in the bottom of the inning. Alex Oliver knocked in two runs to tie the game. Third baseman Jason Brooke cranked a three-run homer later in the inning to put the Jays in a 5-2 deficit.
The score stood until the bottom of the sixth when the Pride added an insurance run on Tom Mahoney's RBI knock to center. E-town went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to fall 6-2 for the team's first conference loss this season.
Joey Sermula took the loss for the Blue Jays. The freshman struck out six batters, but gave up 10 hits for six runs on the day.
Gordon went 2-for-3 and was the only Blue Jay with more than one hit in game two.
E-town will take a break from Commonwealth Conference play to take on the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats Sunday at 1 p.m. in Lancaster.
