ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Dickinson College broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth with a four-run inning and went on to withstand a late-inning rally by the Elizabethtown College baseball team Wednesday afternoon at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium. The Blue Jays fell 5-3 in their final tune-up before a season-defining weekend series with Messiah.

A handful of regulars sat out Elizabethtown's final non-conference game of the season. Shortly before first pitch another regular was forced out of the lineup, involuntarily. Shortstop Kyle Gable suffered an injury in the latter moments of fielding practice and was unable to go.

The Blue Jays (17-19) were forced to move some defensive pieces around, but they hung tough against the hard-hitting Red Devils (23-12). Dickinson's only run in the first five innings was scored on an error when Andrew Sterling stole third. Attempting to put down the tag, Mike Stobbe had the ball glance off his glove and into the outfield. Sterling got up and raced home for the 1-0 lead.

Stobbe made amends for the snafu in the fifth when he put down a perfect sacrifice bunt that moved Kevin Berkheiser and Bacher up to second and third bases, respectively. Berkheiser led off the inning with a single to center and then Bacher hit through a wide open gap on the left side of the infield.

Tim Rosser's sacrifce fly to deep left knotted things at one.

As quickly as the Jays managed to tie it up, Dickinson went back in front. Tyler Rosa' turned on a Joey Seremula offering to lead off the sixth, driving it over the right field wall for his seventh home run of the year.

Kyle Wilt, one of four pitchers used by E-town in the game, came in and suffered some tough luck throughout the rest of the inning. Jordan Kaufman, hitting over .400 for the Red Devils, doubled in the first at bat against Wilt. Kaufman had two hits in five at bats on the day.

Sterling walked in Dickinson's third run of the day and Steve Haynes singled off a diving Stobbe and into left field for a pair of RBIs and a 5-1 lead for the visitors.

Three of the first four batters reached base for E-town in the bottom of the eighth, as the Jays looked to make this one a game. Luke Gatti was hit by a pitch from John O'Neil and Ian Smith doubled to left-center field. A walk to Shane Hosler loaded the bases, before Pat Mulligan drew the Jays' second straight free pass for an RBI.

Berkheiser added another sac fly that cut the Dickinson lead to 5-3, but Garrett Horan eventually got Bacher to pop-out with the tying run standing out on second.

Mark Minisce started for E-town, but went only two innings. The sophomore was impressive in his outing, though, striking out four. The loss was hung on Seremula, who only gave up three hits in three innings. The home run from Rosa' ended up being the deciding factor on the decision. Taras Letnaunchyn was the final E-town pitcher used, and bounced back from a tough start last Friday to throw 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball.

Charlie Gaines improved to 3-0 for the Red Devils by tossing five innings. The Jays got four hits off of Gaines, who walked a batter and struck out one. Horan picked up his second save of the season.

Sterling was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, giving him 27 for the year. Berkheiser had Elizabethtown's only multi-hit game, going 2-for-3. Stobbe's only hit was a seventh inning double, his first of the year.

E-town wraps up its home schedule Friday against Messiah. It's Senior Day for the Blue Jays, who will honor six players: Bacher, Todd Leister, Steve Motika, Mulligan, Matt Reade and Rosser, before the game.