Scranton, PA – Keystone College won its seventh-straight Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball championship on Saturday afternoon by defeating Neumann University 20-10 in a high-scoring championship game played at Marywood University.  The Giants rallied from an early, 6-0 deficit to improve to 31-12 on the season and secure the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament.
 
Keystone has now won 11-straight overall conference titles in a row dating back to their tenure in the North Eastern Athletic Conference and including all seven years in which they have competed in the CSAC
 
Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) was named the CSAC Championship MVP after going 3-6 with four RBIs and two runs scored in the championship game.  The junior catcher went a remarkable, 10-16 (.625 batting average) with eight RBIs, seven runs scored, and five extra-base hits in three playoff games this weekend.    
 
Keystone had to battle from behind from the start on Saturday against Neumann (20-15-1), who batted around in the top of the first inning to open up an early, 6-0 lead.  Matt Sheneman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before Eric Bergman hit a two-run single through the left side.  Cody McNair followed with a two-run double to the gap in right field to give the Knights a 5-0 advantage before Nick Panissidi made it a six-run game with a base hit to left field.    
 
Keystone got a run back in the bottom of the first when Kevin Luciano (Everett, MA/Cambridge Rindge and Latin School) ripped a double to the wall in right-center that scored Gaston Rojas (Carmel, NY/Carmel) to cut the Giants' deficit to 6-1 before making it a 6-5 contest with a four-run second inning.  Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) blooped a single to right field to bring home Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) before Chris Bzozowski (Westampton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rojas.  Herceg then made it a 6-5 game with a two-run triple to the left-centerfield fence.
 
Keystone starter Darren Lauer (New Hope, PA/Council Rock North) worked out of bases-loaded jam in the visitor's third and the Giants tied it in the bottom half of the frame when Lanfranco delivered a single up the middle to bring in Anthony Muccio (Tarrytown, NY/Archbishop Stepinac), who tripled with one out in the inning, to knot the contest up at 6-6.
 
Neumann went back in front in the top of the fifth inning, 7-6 on in infield single by Kevin Case, but Keystone took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the frame when Bzozowski launched a three-run home run – his fourth round-tripper of the season – to give the Giants a 9-7 advantage.
 
Keystone pushed their advantage to 17-7 in the home seventh but scoring eight runs on six hits and one error.  Rojas singled up the middle to drive in Bzozowski before Muccio scored on a passed ball.  Herceg followed with a two-run single to left field to give the Giants a seven-run lead.  Ross hit a rare, two-run sacrifice fly to deep centerfield before Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) scored on a Neumann error. 
 
Buddy Elgin gave Neumann their eighth run of the game with a solo home run in the top eighth inning, but Luciano put an exclamation point on the championship win with a three-run homer – his fifth dinger of the spring – to straightaway center. 
 
Kye Williams led off the visitor's ninth with a home run to left field before the Knights capped the scoring with an RBI double. 
 
Lauer (6-3) battled through six innings and picked up the win after allowing seven runs on 10 hits while striking out five batters.  Jake Granteed (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball with one strikeout while Charles Morreale (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence) yielded one run and fanned one batter in 0.2 innings on the hill.  After allowing a pair of runs, Steve Aniska (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) retired the final three outs of the game including one via the strikeout to seal the championship victory. 
 
Lanfranco went 5-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored atop Keystone's lineup while Bzozowski joined Herceg with three hits and three RBIs in the contest.  Herceg and Luciano both drove in four runs apiece while Rojas, Reyes, and Muccio each had a pair of hits for the Giants, who outhit the Knights by a 20-14 margin. 
 
Luciano, Bzozowski, and Muccio joined Lanfranco with three runs scored each in the game.
 
The Giants also got a pair of great catches in the outfield on the day as Rojas made a tremendous running catching while colliding with the fence in the sixth inning before Muccio robbed the Knights over a home run by reaching over the wall to snag the first out of the eighth inning. 
 
Kevin Corris (0-3) suffered the loss on the hill for Neumann after being charged with nine runs on nine hits to go along with a pair of strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work.  The Knights went on to use four pitchers out of the bullpen to close out the game.  Neumann got a pair of hits from five different players in the loss.
 
The NCAA Regional field will be announced via a press release on www.ncaa.com at midnight on Sunday night.