FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Senior
Anthony Heaps accounted for seven of Elizabethtown's nine runs in Wednesday's non-conference baseball game against Misericordia, but even two home runs —including a grand slam— and those seven RBIs couldn't hold off the Cougars' offense in a 16-9 loss.
The two teams traded scores and were tied 2-2 after four innings and 5-5 after the Blue Jays' (3-5) at-bats in the top of the sixth. Misericordia (6-2) busted the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth, though, as it brought 10 runs across.
Thirteen batters came to the plate in the inning for the Cougars as the 10-spot came on five hits. E-town had trouble locating its pitches with four walks allowed in the game-changing frame alone. The biggest blow was a grand slam off the bat of center fielder Kenny Durling. Durling, who finished 4-for-5 with those four RBIs and three runs scored, collected two of his hits and runs in the sixth.
Heaps' first home run of the day had come in the top half of the inning, and had made it a 5-5 game. The 6-foot-2, Landenberg, Pa., product took Cougars' starter Pete Doggett deep, chasing him from the game.
The big man returned to the dish again in the seventh and gave the Blue Jays some hope with his grand slam off reliever Ryan Cacchioli. Cacchioli pitched just an inning and wasn't very effective, but thanks to the monumental sixth that his Misericordia teammates put up, it was enough to earn the win.
Ron Guido struck out three and gave up just three hits over the final three innings to pick up the save.
Seven E-town players registered a hit and six of those seven had multiple-hits, as the Jays actually outhit the Cougars 14-13 in the contest.
Dillon Tagle had three hits and scored three runs. Included in his three-hit day were a pair of doubles. Heaps,
Kyle Gable,
Steve Motika,
Matt Reade and
Brian Verdelli each had two hits.
The Jays used five different pitchers, but all gave up at least one earned run in the offense-happy game.
Greg Katz took the loss with three earned runs allowed in an inning and a third.
Ursinus will catch the Blue Jays on their final day of competition in Fort Pierce Thursday. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m.
