SALISBURY, MD – The York College baseball squad played spoiler with a fantastic Saturday afternoon at the 2013 Capital Athletic Conference tournament in Salisbury, MD. The Spartans captured a pair of wins in elimination contests as they defeated third-seeded Wesley 6-2 in the opener and then edged second-seed Mary Washington 2-0 in the nightcap.
The opener against the Wolverines, the Spartans jumped out to the early lead in the top of the first. Andrew Hershey (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) stroked a double to right to open the game. After a Dustin Worthman (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) sacrifice moved Hershey to second, Colbe Herr (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) ripped a single to center to score Hershey with the game's opening run.
The Spartans added two more runs with two outs in the second. Hershey and Worthman had back-to-back RBI singles to push the lead to 3-0 after an inning and a half of play.
Wesley cut into their deficit in the bottom of the second but York kept plugging away with a Drew Frankenfield (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) RBI single to left in the top of the third. York then pushed the lead to 5-1 in the fourth as Justin Cohen (Severn, Md./Old Mill) singled to plate Herr with an RBI single.
Wesley scored their second run in the fifth but York got that run back in the top of the eighth on a Derek Pitzer (York, Pa./Dallastown) sacrifice fly to left.
Junior David Walker (Hanover, Pa./South Western) stepped up and gave the Spartans a very good start as he allowed two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks in his 6.2 innings of work. He improves to 2-1 with the win. Tyler Alexander (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) picked up the save with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief as he allowed just one base runner during his outing.
Rob Diamond suffered the loss as he allowed five runs, three earned, on 11 hits in five innings of work. He falls to 2-4.
Cohen had a big game with a career-high four hits while he also scored twice and drove in another. Frankenfield continues to play well down the stretch for York as he was 3-for-5 with an RBI while senior Jimmy King (Frederick, Md./Frederick) also had three knocks and a run scored for York. Hershey finished the game 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Sam Farnell led Wesley as he finished the game 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Game two was a fantastic pitcher's dual between York's Josh Kohn (Derwood, Md./Col. Zadok Magruder) and Mary Washington's Mike Straub. The game was scoreless through the first seven innings of the play.
The Spartans had just three runners reach first base in the first six innings. Kohn was up to the task as he retired the first nine Eagles he faced. A walk to lead off the fourth gave UMW their first base runner but that runner was erased on a failed sacrifice bunt. The Eagles got a runner on courtesy of a throwing error in the fifth but Kohn had still not allowed a hit through five.
Mary Washington broke up the no-hitter with two outs in the seventh as centerfielder James Sink singled to second. Kohn recovered and got a fly out to center to end the Eagle inning.
UMW threatened in the eighth but Kohn worked around a Spartan error as the game remained locked in a scoreless tie.
That didn't last long as the Spartans plated the only runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman Austin Calaman (York, Pa./Dallastown) started the rally with a leadoff walk. After a failed bunt attempt to move pinch runner Hunter Whalen (Milford, Del./Milford) to second, Hershey ripped a double to left, moving the go-ahead run to third. Worthman plated Whalen with a sacrifice fly to center and Herr followed with a double to center to score Hershey, providing York with all the offense they would need in.
Mike Sarecky (Brookeville, Md./Sherwood) allowed a one out double but got a ground out and a fly out to right to pick up his fourth save of the year.
Kohn earned his third of the year with the most dominate performance of his Spartan career. The senior left-hander threw eight shutout innings, allowing just one infield hit with six strikeouts and two walks. The shutout is York's third of the year.
Straub went the distance for the Eagles, as he was also very good in the loss. He allowed two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and one walk in eight innings of work. Straub falls to 4-4 for the year.
Herr and Worthman each had a hit and an RBI while Hershey and Whalen scored the two Spartan runs.
Sink and Jono Haught had the only hits for the Eagles.
The job for York isn't done as the Spartans must beat top-seeded Salisbury twice on Sunday to earn the 2013 Capital Athletic Conference championship. The Spartans and Sea Gulls square off at 11:00 am with the conference title at stake. If York can beat the Sea Gulls in game one, a second, winner-take-all championship game would be played at 2:00 pm.