WEST LAWN, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College baseball team scored all six of its runs over the final four innings to come away with a 6-4 win to eliminate the No. 8 and top-seeded Alvernia Crusaders Friday in West Lawn, Pa. to advance to Saturday's Commonwealth Conference Finals.
The Blue Jays (19-18) took down the Crusaders (33-7) for the second time in as many days, having beaten Alvernia 8-7 yesterday.
Rob Cressman started for the Jays, pitching six innings, giving up one run on four hits to earn his fifth win of the season.
The Crusaders managed their first run in the bottom of the fourth on an inside the park home run off the bat of Brian Witkowski to give Alvernia a 1-0 lead.
Alvernia's lead quickly disappeared when E-town responded with two runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Dillon Tagle started the frame by reaching on a fielding error, then advanced on a
Matt Reade sacrifice bunt and made it to third on a
Pat Mulligan groundout. Tagle crossed home for the Jays' first run on a balk, followed by a
Kevin Berkheiser RBI single to right field for a 2-1 E-town lead.
Then in the seventh, the Jays added a run when
Andrew Gordon scored on a wild pitch.
With runners on second and third with no outs, lightning halted play in the seventh. When the weather passed and play resumed, E-town scored two more runs when Tagle knocked a double to left.
In the bottom of the frame, freshman
Joey Seremula recorded the first out before surrendering two runs as the Crusaders got back into the game at 5-3.
After a scoreless eighth for both sides, E-town tacked on what turned out to be the game-winning run on a
Brian Verdelli single to plate
Steve Motika, who led off with a bunt single.
In the bottom of the ninth,
Todd Leister recorded the first two outs, but with runners on first and second, the Crusaders' Chris Ray hit an RBI single to make it 6-4. Later in the inning, Alvernia added another on a Leister wild pitch. The junior reliever was able to compose himself, however, and finish out the game with a strike out to record the save.
Alvernia's Mike Weinhold took the loss on the mound after going six innings while giving up five runs on five hits.
E-town's offense was led by Gordon and Berkheiser who had two hits each.
The Blue Jays move on to the finals tomorrow at noon where they will play the Messiah Falcons. If E-town wins, the two teams will play a winner-takes-all contest at 3 p.m. to determine the Commonwealth Conference champion.
