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ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The highs and lows of sports can come full circle in a matter of pitches or outs. That was the case Friday afternoon at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium when Alvernia's Brian Turner hit a 2-run home run in the ninth inning to help the Crusaders claim their only lead of the game, and a 4-2 win, over Elizabethtown.

Runs were hard to come by in the first of a three-game weekend series. Staff aces Matt Ruth of E-town (11-14, 5-5 CC) and Aaron Benusis of Alvernia were nearly untouchable.

Benusis struck out six and gave up just five hits and an earned run over 6.2 innings. Ruth pitched eight strong, tying a career-high with nine strikeouts for the second start in a row.

Tied 1-1 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Luke Gatti smoked a ball to left field off Crusaders' (16-8, 7-3 CC) reliever Anthony Gambino to drive in Zack Tomasko with the go-ahead run.

Chris Ray led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to short, bringing the lead run to the plate in the form of Turner. Turner, a senior, turned on Ruth's first pitch for his third home run of the season, a shot that carried over the wall in right and gave Alvernia a 3-2 lead.

The Crusaders added to their lead with two more hits in the inning, as Matt Patterson doubled off Jake Hoffstein and Chris Gehris singled him in.

Elizabethtown went in front first on Kyle Gable's single through the right side on a 3-0 pitch in the third. Aaron Rahn crossed the plate. Both runs scored by E-town Friday were scored by freshmen.

Ruth and the Blue Jays carried their 1-0 lead to the fifth, but both E-town errors in the game came in that inning and provided Alvernia an opportunity to tie the game. Gehris attempted to steal second with two outs after reaching on an error, and Dillon Tagle's bid to catch him —which would have ended the inning— bounced short of second and kicked off Gable, who was covering second. Richie Ricciardi was able to trot home from third when the throw got away.

Only one player, Elizabethtown's Sean Jones, had more than one hit in the Commonwealth Conference contest between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the preseason coaches poll. Jones doubled in the second and tripled in the seventh. He nearly gave the Jays a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but was thrown out at the plate on Ryan Haggerty's grounder to second base. A huge out for the Crusaders, it was further intensified when the next batter, Kevin Berkheiser, singled into center field.

Louis Marotta got the final out in the eighth inning and the first one in the ninth to earn his first victory of the season. Right-handed submariner Kevin Becker-Menditto came on to retire pinch-hitter Shane Hosler and Berkheiser in the ninth for his fifth save.

Ruth went over 50 innings pitched by working into the eight innings or more for the third consecutive start. The senior from York recorded his fourth straight quality start and saw his ERA drop to a season-best 3.58. He allowed a season-low five hits and only two earned runs. Ruth did not issue a walk for the third time in seven starts.

E-town's Gable began the day tied for ninth in career steals with Bob Kraft (49), but swiped two more to move into an eighth-place tie with Jon Hendl. The Emmaus grad is just eight steals shy of tying Ian Smeltz for fourth (59).

The Jays and Crusaders complete their series tomorrow afternoon at Angelica Park in Reading. Game one is scheduled for 12 p.m. Fans can follow the action live by clicking here, or following the live stats link on the athletics homepage.