Tyler Weary at Moravian (3) 3/30/15
3
Elizabethtown ETWN-B 25-16
7
Winner Moravian MOR 20-18
Elizabethtown ETWN-B
25-16
3
Final
7
Moravian MOR
20-18
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Elizabethtown ETWN-B 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 6 2
Moravian MOR 0 1 3 2 0 0 1 0 X 7 11 1

W: Nicholas Mazzella (5-0) L: Manning, Dylan (3-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Moravian ends Blue Jays' season in Landmark semifinals

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Elizabethtown College baseball saved its season with a win Saturday afternoon, but could not conjure up the same magic Sunday in game three of its Landmark Conference semifinal series at Moravian.

The Blue Jays fell into a six-run hole after four innings, which proved too much to overcome in a 7-3 season-ending defeat.

No one in attendance at Gillespie Field in Bethlehem left saying Elizabethtown, the No. 3 seed, went down quietly.

The Jays made use of their final six outs, loading the bases in the eighth and ninth innings and bringing the tying run to the plate both times.

After using ace Kristopher Davis and No. 2 starter Kevin Elwell in Saturday's games, Elizabethtown was forced to go with a committee approach to try and advance to the Landmark Championship series in its first season as a member of the conference.

Dylan Manning started and retired the Greyhounds (20-18) in order in the top of the first. He ran into some trouble in the second when Justin Pilchman hit a one-out double and Mike Roethke walked to put runners on the corners.

Alex Longernecker lined a 2-1 pitch into center field to score Pilchman with the game's first run. Moravian got greedy a batter later when Anthony Gaetaniello singled to Kyle Fackler at second base.

Fackler had to go to his left on a tough play that Gaetaniello was going  to beat out, but when the Blue Jay sophomore couldn't come up with it cleanly, Roethke tried to take home. Fackler threw a dart to the plate to nail the Hounds' catcher for the final out of the inning.

A Ryan Luke single and Matt Hanson walk in the bottom of the third spelled the end of Manning's day. The Hempfield grad was relieved by Nick Gulla, but on Gulla's second pitch, Charles Savite smacked a three-run home run over the fence in right for a 4-0 Moravian lead.

The Greyhounds scored twice more in the fourth with the aid of an error and a sac fly.

Elizabethtown (25-16) got on the board in the sixth when Fackler tripled to the gap in left and scored on an Alex Holbert ground out.

The Blue Jays worked the count and got good swings in against Moravian freshman southpaw Nicholas Mazzella, but every hard hit ball seemed to find a fielder in its path. Mazzella moved to 5-0 on the season by allowing four hits over seven innings. He was charged with all three Blue Jay runs, though Brett Wagner was on the hill for Tyler Weary's sac fly and threw a wild pitch that allowed Austin Kibler to score in the eighth.

Freshman Anthony Lippy settled down a Moravian offense that had eight hits through the first three innings. Lippy went 3.1 innings, giving up one hit and one run. Josh Sollenberger threw a scoreless inning and Zack Tomasko struck out one in two-thirds of an inning.

Even with the cards stacked against them, the Blue Jays would not let the season end without a battle. Aaron Rahn drew a one-out walk in the ninth, Kibler was plunked and Kyle Fackler singled to right to load the bases with two outs.

Wagner got Holbert to fly out on a full count, however, as Moravian clinched its spot in the championship series. The Greyhounds will host No. 4 Catholic, which upset top seed Scranton, 7-5, in game three of their semifinal series Sunday.

Fackler led the E-town offense by going 2-for-4 with a triple and run scored. Weary was 1-for-3 with a triple. The hit was the 170th of the Gardners, Pa., native's career, good for sixth all-time at the College.

Moravian's Savite knocked in four runs during a 2-for-4 afternoon and Longernecker collected a game-high three hits.

Elizabethtown's 25 wins this season were its most since a 29-win season in 2009. Sunday's game was the last for six seniors: Frank Canuso, Davis, Gatti, Holbert, Taras Letnaunchyn and Weary.

The class of 2015 delivered 80 wins and two conference tournament appearances during its tenure.

Weary concluded his career with a .321 batting average. His 153 games played are tied for fifth most in a career in team history, his 40 doubles tied for fifth, his 529 at-bats sixth and his 105 runs 14th. Weary also hit 15 doubles this season, tying him for 10th on the program's single-season list.

Gatti, the Landmark leader in batting average (.420), started all 41 games. With his 66th hit of the season Sunday (1-for-4), Gatti finished four hits shy of Andy Barrick's school record of 70 in a season, set back in 1988. The first baseman from Columbia, Pa. also slotted into fourth for at-bats in a season with 157, and tied Adam Sheibley for eighth with 40 RBIs.

Letnaunchyn made 16 appearances this season, tied for 10th most in a season, while Davis went 7-1 in 2015 and finished his career as the 10th player in program history to register more than 200 innings pitched (203.2).

Holbert had 103 career hits and Canuso set new career-highs in batting average, games played, runs, hits and RBIs during his senior season.
 
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