READING, Pa. — The Elizabethtown College baseball team (17-14, 7-5 CC) kicked off its doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Albright College with a barn-burner in game one. A six-run rally in the eighth inning ignited the E-town offense, which secured a 10-6 victory for the squad. Overall, eight different Jays recorded runs as the team claimed its second consecutive win over Albright in less than twenty-four hours. The Lions salvaged a game in the series by taking game two, 5-2.
The Lions drew first blood with a three spot in the second inning. Catcher Doug Mace singled and scored designated hitter Dylan Boll from second base. Shortstop Alex Myers brought Mace and right fielder Jon Raymond home with a single of his own. However, all of the runs were unearned due to an error by E-town shortstop
Tyler Weary who has a .953 fielding percentage this season. Albright (10-21, 3-9 CC) extended its advantage to 4-0 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Raymond.
Blue Jay starter
Rob Cressman had a rough outing, but he stifled the Albright batting order during the fourth and fifth innings, when he allowed only two hits. The Pitman, New Jersey native hurled five innings while giving up nine hits and four runs.
Elizabethtown responded to the Albright onslaught with a two spot during the fourth. After loading the bases,
Pat Mulligan worked a walk and notched an RBI. Center fielder
Kevin Berkheiser launched a sacrifice fly to center and first baseman
Steve Motika hustled home which sliced the deficit to 4-2.
The Blue and Gray continued to chip away at Albright's lead, and added a third run during the top of the fifth when Weary bolted home on a wild pitch. In the top of the seventh, catcher
Dillon Tagle rolled an RBI groundout to second which scored shortstop
Kyle Gable and locked the score at 4-4.
Reliever
Vaclav Hasik kept the Jays within striking distance. He provided two shutdown innings to earn his first victory of the year.
E-town took advantage of its opportunity in the top of the seventh. With two outs in the inning, Weary came through with a clutch RBI single. Gable reached base safely after an error by Myers, which enabled Weary to score. After Gable stole second, right fielder
Tim Rosser earned an RBI with a single. E-town extended its advantage to 10-4 with RBI singles by Motika and third baseman
Ian Smith, and an RBI double by Tagle.
However, Albright would not go down without some late inning heroics in the bottom of the eighth. The Lions claimed two runs and three hits against
Todd Leister, but EC's closer stood his ground. With two outs in the inning, Leister clinched an E-town victory when he got Mace to strike out swinging.
The visitors struck while their bats where hot in game two. In the top of the first, Motika earned an RBI single and Smith lofted a ball to right field for sacrifice fly and an RBI. Although the Jays claimed an early lead, they could not scratch out any additional runs. Albright starter Kevin O'Neil pitched seven solid innings in which he allowed seven hits, four walks and two earned runs. Albright drove in five unanswered runs during the fourth and the fifth innings, which was enough to claim the split and avoid an 0-3 weekend.
As a result of the outcomes of other Commonwealth Conference clashes, the Jays slid into the number two spot behind Alvernia. Widener lost both ends of its doubleheader on Saturday which pushed the Pride's conference mark to 7-8. In addition, Lebanon Valley also fell in both games of a doubleheader, which lowered its conference record to 6-9. If the playoffs began today, E-town would have home field advantage during the first round. This season, the squad is 8-3 on their home field at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium.
The Jays will travel out of the Keystone State to play non-conference opponent Rowan University (19-11) on Tuesday in Glassboro, New Jersey. The Profs are ranked 16th in the latest d3baseball.com Top 25.
