Game 1: Elizabethtown 4, La Roche 3 (8)
Game 2: La Roche 3, Elizabethtown 2

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Tim Rosser drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to open the Elizabethtown College baseball team's 2012 season with a 4-3 victory over La Roche Sunday afternoon. The Blue Jays' rally in game two came up just short as they fell 3-2 for the split.

GAME 1
Starting pitcher Matt Ruth provided 6.1 strong innings of work as the Blue Jays (1-1) grabbed a 2-1 lead after four innings. Ruth retired Adam Zimmerman to start the fifth inning, a norm for the junior from York. Five time in the seven innings he started, Ruth got the first La Roche (1-3) batter he faced out. The Redhawks took their first lead of the game later in the fifth on Sean Lubin's RBI double and Mitchell Meyer's sacrifice  bunt.

Brian Verdelli tied the game up at three in the sixth on a groundout. Verdelli knocked in each of E-town's first three runs on a sacrifice fly and two groundouts.

Freshman Taras Letnaunchyn replaced Ruth in the top of the seventh, when the upperclassman was a few pitches shy of 100 for the game. Letnaunchyn's collegiate debut went flawlessly. None of the five La Roche hitters that faced the Boyertown native reached base.

A 1-2-3 inning from Letnaunchyn in the top of the eighth put the onus to win the opener on E-town's offense. Kyle Gable led off the inning by getting plunked with a pinch from LRC's Ryan Fennell. Tyler Ferguson took the ball from Fennell immediately after the HBP to Gable and the lefty struck out Steve Motika before walking Dillon Tagle. Verdelli then blooped a single to shortstop to load the bases.

Rosser, inserted into the game in right field at the start of the seventh inning, worked the count against Ferguson. He laid off a pair of close breaking balls before walking on a full count to bring in Gable with the winning run.

Tagle hit a pair of doubles —one to each gap— and walked three times. Motika, the team leader in hits a year ago, went 1-for-3 with a pair of runs scored. Letnaunchyn got the victory, while Fennell took the loss.

Ruth struck out four Redhawks in his outing. He yielded eight hits and three earned runs, but did not walk anyone. La Roche starter Cole Lentz struck out two and walked two in five innings. Neither received a decision. Dan Burns had two hits for the Redhawks, as did Lubin. Lubin's double was their only extra base hit of the game.

GAME 2
E-town's rally from a 3-0 disadvantage almost came full circle, but a game-ending line drive double play brought hopes of a 2-0 start to a close.

La Roche scored all three of its runs in the second inning. Anthony Girdano and Brian Tougher came through with back-to-back doubles against game two starter Rob Cressman (0-1). Tougher's two-bagger brought in Girdano and Brad Goedeker.

The Blue Jays finally broke through with a pair of hits against La Roche's Jesse Bauer in the fourth inning. Tyler Weary and Steve Motika each singled, but EC was kept off the board in the frame.

Small ball in the top of the sixth allowed E-town to put up two runs, pulling it within 3-2. Gable singled into left field to score Rosser. The Jays' next batter, Motika, then put a fly ball in play that ended a sacrifice fly after Jon Bacher slid safely across home plate.

Gable, who stole second base prior to Motika's sac fly, stood 90 feet from tying the game up, but Matt Reade's well hit line drive was snared a few feet short of the left field wall by the Redhawks' Goedeker.

In the seventh, E-town got a one-out single to right field from Kevin Berkheiser to bring the winning run to the plate. A shot off Rosser's bat was snared and Berkheiser was doubled up to end the game.

Both starters went the distance as Bauer outdueled Cressman. Bauer gave up five hits and struck out two in his outing. Cressman nearly matched his counterpart, allowing seven La Roche hits and recording three strikeouts. Each man showed strong control with just a single walk allowed. Bauer's was an intentional free pass to the Jays' Tagle.

Lubin finished off a strong day with a 2-for-2 effort at the plate in game two, while Girdano also came up with a pair of knocks. All five of E-town's hits came off the bats of different players.

A conference foe of La Roche's awaits the Blue and Gray Monday, as E-town takes on Penn State Behrend in a single nine-inning game at noon.