E-town Lineup
1. Fackler 2b, 2. Holbert cf, 3. Weary lf, 4. Gatti 1b, 5. Portillo dh, 6. Lorenz 3b, 7. Rahn rf, 8. Ragozzino c, 9.Shirk ss, Manning sp
Lancaster Bible Lineup
1. Taylor ss, 2. Sanchez dh, 3. Long lf, 4. Carroll 3b, 5. Mayer rf, 6. Elliott 2b, 7. Ebersole 1b, 8. Gundlach c, 9. Niedergall cf, Kumher sp
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Dylan Manning pitched six innings of two-hit ball and Elizabethtown pulled away to its 20th victory of the season, 8-1, over Lancaster Bible on Nick Lorenz's three-run eighth-inning triple Tuesday afternoon at Boyd Stadium.
Coach Cliff Smith closed within four wins of 200 for his career, while the Blue Jays earned their first 20-win season since 2012 –and 22nd in team history.
But this Elizabethtown team isn't satisfied with 20 wins. Even though Tuesday's game was of the non-conference variety, the Jays head into the weekend as co-leaders of the Landmark Conference, their sights set on returning to the postseason for the first time in three seasons and trying to deliver the program's first conference title since 2009.
Starting pitchers Dylan Manning and Mitch Kumher traded clean innings most of the way through the first five frames, until the Jays turned a 1-0 game on its side in the seventh.
First in the top of the seventh, the Chargers (6-13) loaded the bases with one out.
Freshman Nick Lorenz made, arguably, the play of the game in the top of the seventh when he dove to his left to snare Caleb Mayer's grounder and threw home to get pinch runner Ricky Bisch with the potential tying run.
Reliever Taras Letnaunchyn would then get Braden Elliott to ground into a fielder's choice for the final out of the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Brian Portillo stepped in against Gabe Yoder with Tyler Weary eager at third. Portillo pulled a fly ball deep enough to left field to score the senior with an insurance run.
The Jays' offense padded its lead against the Chargers (6-13) with two more runs in the inning.
Another key play from Lorenz came in the bottom of the eighth. He drilled a bases-clearing triple and scored when the center fielder's throw sailed into the Blue Jays' dugout on the third base side, as E-town's lead doubled to 8-0.
Manning started on the bump for the home team and lasted six innings to pick up his second win of the season. The Hempfield grad allowed two hits while facing 27 batters. Letnaunchyn threw 1.2 scorless innings in relief.
Kumher allowed only a second-inning unearned run in taking the hard-luck loss for the Chargers. He struck out four and gave up four hits over 5.2 innings.
LBC avoided the shutout in the top of the ninth on Josh Mayer's two-out single to left that scored Bisch.
Aaron Rahn and Frank Ragozzino led the Blue Jays' with two hits each. Weary and Lorenz scored a pair. JJ Sanchez was the only Charger with multiple hits, as he was 2-for-4 with a double out of the two-hole.
Thursday brings an opportunity for the Jays to measure themsevles against a nationally-ranked opponent, as they make up a game at No. 6 Shenandoah at 5 p.m.
