April 28, 2017

Keystone Rallies to Walk Off With 11-Inning Win Over Neumann

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La Plume, Pa. – Billy Nelson (Moscow, Pa./North Pocono) hit a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning on Friday to cap a six-run rally as Keystone College won the first game of this weekend's key Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball series with Neumann University, 7-6 at Christy Mathewson Field.  The Giants, who trailed 6-1 in the fourth inning of Friday's contest, improve to 24-9 overall and 14-2 in CSAC play by winning for the 11th time in their last 12 games.    
 
Neumann (16-15, 10-6 CSAC) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on Friday as the Knights scored a pair of unearned runs on two hits and one error.  Eric Bergman drove in the game's first run with an RBI groundout before Chuck Trentler hit an RBI double to left center to give the visitors a two-run edge.
 
Keystone got a run back in the bottom of the first inning when Austin Chaszar (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown Regional) scored as Anthony Ferrezza (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) reached on a fielder's choice.  Despite loading the bases with nobody out, the Giants were only able to get the one run to trail 2-1 at the end of three innings of play.
 
The Knights countered with a pair of two-out RBI singles in the visitor's fourth to claim a 4-1 lea.  The visitors extended their lead to 6-1 in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run double from Kyle Weller.
 
In the home half of the fifth inning, Sebastian De La Cruz (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) delivered an RBI single up the middle to bring home Chris Panzarella (Hazle Township, Pa./Hazleton Area) before Chaszar game home on a sacrifice fly from Ferrezza as Keystone cut its deficit to 6-3.
 
The Giants got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull within a run. Chaszar came home on a wild pitch in the home half of the seventh inning before pinch runner Adrian Laro (Brooklyn, N.Y./Grand St. Campus) scored on an RBI groundout from Brady Barr (Bowie, Md./Bowie) to make it a 6-5 ballgame.
 
Keystone knotted the game up at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa./Honesdale) scored the tying run when Chaszar doubled down the left field.
 
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Ferrezza reached on a Neumann error with one out and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Brendan Long (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier).  After an intentional walk to Barr, Nelson stepped up to the plate and belted a base hit to left field that scored Ferrezza with the winning run from second base.
 
Tyler Widitz (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) improved to 4-0 on the year after pitching 3.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and one hit against. 
 
Keystone starter Troy Terzi (Wallingford, Conn./Notre Dame ) took a no-decision after going seven innings and being charged with six runs, only two of which were earned, on 10 hits while striking out six batters.  Joe DeAngelis (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) yielded one hit and walked a pair of batters in 0.2 innings of work before being replaced by Widitz.
 
Chaszar went 4-5 with three runs scored, Kelly had three hits, and Nelson and De La Cruz collected two hits apiece for the Giants, who got a pair of RBI from Ferrezza.
 
Neumann starter Zach Youngberg also took a no-decision after yielding five runs on eight hits while fanning one batter in 6.1 innings.  Zach Cooney suffered the loss for the Knights after being charged with two runs on four hits while picking up three K's in the final 4.1 innings.
 
Matt McLaughlin was 4-5 for the visitors while Weller and Spencer Young added two hits apiece for the visitors.
 
Both teams had 12 hits apiece in the contest while Neumann committed five errors to four miscues for the Giants on the day.
 
The Giants and Knights will wrap up their regular season series on Saturday with a  doubleheader at Neumann starting at 12:00 p.m.