Game 1: Box Score (XML) | Box Score (HTML)
Game 2: Box Score (XML) | Box Score (HTML)
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – A four-run sixth inning in game one propelled Elizabethtown to a 6-4 Commonwealth Conference victory and snapped Widener's 10-game winning streak Friday. But, the Blue Jays let game two get away in the 11th, 4-1, wasting 10.1 shutdown innings from Kristopher Davis.
With Widener earning the split, E-town must now sweep Lebanon Valley in next weekend's series to claim the conference's final playoff spot. The Blue Jays got much-needed help from Arcadia, which swept LVC Friday in Annville, but if they had been able to get game two off the Pride, the requirement to advance to the postseason would have been a series win instead of a sweep.
The red hot Pride (22-10, 13-5) built a 4-0 lead against Zack Tomasko in game one, knocking the sophomore out by the top of the fourth inning.
Elizabethtown answered Widener's pair of runs in the fourth with two of their own, as Kyle Gable and Kyle Fackler scored when Pride third baseman Michael Elfreth booted a Tyler Weary-hit ball well into foul territory.
Kyle and Kyle got the Jays (14-16, 7-11) going again in the sixth. Fackler led off the inning with a drive to left that fell in for his second double of the game. Gable followed with a single to right center that scored the freshman second baseman.
A one-out single from Weary put runners on the corners and chased starter Joe Santone from the game. Friday's winning pitcher Glenn Stanners took the ball, but was wild with his second pitch and Gable raced home from third to tie the game 2-2.
Ryan Haggerty pinballed a single into left to score Weary with the go-ahead run and a Widener throwing error expanded its problems as pinch-runner Richy Masciarelli provided an insurance run for the Blue and Gray.
Nick Gulla relieved Tomasko and kept the Pride off the scoreboard in his three innings for his second win of the year. He started the seventh and recorded the first two outs before giving up a single and hitting a batter.
Sean Jones induced Sam Christie into a game-ending ground out to earn his third save of the year. Tomasko struck out five in his start, but struggled with control as four Widener batters reached on walks. He threw 79 pitches in less than four innings.
Pride starter Santone was charged with the loss. He gave up five runs (three earned) on six hits in 5.1 innings. Gable and Fackler both had two hits and two runs in game one.
Game two featured aces Colin Weiss of Widener and the Jays' Kristopher Davis going pitch-for-pitch against each other, but no one could have foreseen how good the battle turned out to be.
Runs were at a premium all game long. Gable singled in Fackler for a 1-0 Blue Jays' lead in the bottom of the third, but the Pride tied it in the sixth on a Nicholas Enos single.
The scheduled seven innings flew by in just over an hour and both teams showed no patience at the plate in extra innings, regularly swinging at first or second pitches. Weiss and Davis continued to deal with their pitch counts still approaching triple digits.
Widener averaged just over a hit per inning, but left 11 men on base. In the top of the eighth, the visitors had runners on first and second with one out, but Matt Scherer's liner was speared by Fackler and he doubled Bob Barnett off at second.
Then, in the top of the 10th, the Pride strung together consecutive hits from Barnett and Michael Riverso, but Scherer grounded into a fielder's choice with E-town's Weary opting to get the lead runner at third. Scherer stranded five in the game.
Davis worked into the 11th, making him the first Elizabethtown pitcher to throw 10 innings or more this decade. Mike Nocar was the last Blue Jay to do it when he went 10 against Moravian in the Commonwealth Conference Championships May 2, 2003.
Greg McDonough's one-out walk after a nine-pitch at-bat and Justin Healey's single gave the Pride a pair of baserunners.
Davis was lifted from the game for Jones, who got Christie, the first batter he faced, to ground a ball right at Fackler. Fackler's flip was ruled to have pulled Gable off the bag at second, however, so instead of Widener having runners at the corners with two outs, the bases were now loaded.
Catcher Paul Shepherd then pulled a suicide squeeze to score McDonough with the leading run and Elfreth, a .400 hitter, slapped a two-run single to right to make it 4-1.
Weiss finished off an 11-inning four-hitter after loading the bases in the bottom of the inning. He got Dylan Manning to ground out to Riverso at first for the final out. Weiss struck out four, getting the complete game in 132 pitches.
Elizabethtown has a busy week ahead of it. The Jays will be at Juniata Monday, home for Penn State Harrisburg Tuesday (4:15 p.m.) and home for Franklin & Marshall Wednesday (4 p.m.) before their season-deciding series with LVC next Friday and Saturday.
Game 2: Box Score (XML) | Box Score (HTML)
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – A four-run sixth inning in game one propelled Elizabethtown to a 6-4 Commonwealth Conference victory and snapped Widener's 10-game winning streak Friday. But, the Blue Jays let game two get away in the 11th, 4-1, wasting 10.1 shutdown innings from Kristopher Davis.
With Widener earning the split, E-town must now sweep Lebanon Valley in next weekend's series to claim the conference's final playoff spot. The Blue Jays got much-needed help from Arcadia, which swept LVC Friday in Annville, but if they had been able to get game two off the Pride, the requirement to advance to the postseason would have been a series win instead of a sweep.
The red hot Pride (22-10, 13-5) built a 4-0 lead against Zack Tomasko in game one, knocking the sophomore out by the top of the fourth inning.
Elizabethtown answered Widener's pair of runs in the fourth with two of their own, as Kyle Gable and Kyle Fackler scored when Pride third baseman Michael Elfreth booted a Tyler Weary-hit ball well into foul territory.
Kyle and Kyle got the Jays (14-16, 7-11) going again in the sixth. Fackler led off the inning with a drive to left that fell in for his second double of the game. Gable followed with a single to right center that scored the freshman second baseman.
A one-out single from Weary put runners on the corners and chased starter Joe Santone from the game. Friday's winning pitcher Glenn Stanners took the ball, but was wild with his second pitch and Gable raced home from third to tie the game 2-2.
Ryan Haggerty pinballed a single into left to score Weary with the go-ahead run and a Widener throwing error expanded its problems as pinch-runner Richy Masciarelli provided an insurance run for the Blue and Gray.
Nick Gulla relieved Tomasko and kept the Pride off the scoreboard in his three innings for his second win of the year. He started the seventh and recorded the first two outs before giving up a single and hitting a batter.
Sean Jones induced Sam Christie into a game-ending ground out to earn his third save of the year. Tomasko struck out five in his start, but struggled with control as four Widener batters reached on walks. He threw 79 pitches in less than four innings.
Pride starter Santone was charged with the loss. He gave up five runs (three earned) on six hits in 5.1 innings. Gable and Fackler both had two hits and two runs in game one.
Game two featured aces Colin Weiss of Widener and the Jays' Kristopher Davis going pitch-for-pitch against each other, but no one could have foreseen how good the battle turned out to be.
Runs were at a premium all game long. Gable singled in Fackler for a 1-0 Blue Jays' lead in the bottom of the third, but the Pride tied it in the sixth on a Nicholas Enos single.
The scheduled seven innings flew by in just over an hour and both teams showed no patience at the plate in extra innings, regularly swinging at first or second pitches. Weiss and Davis continued to deal with their pitch counts still approaching triple digits.
Widener averaged just over a hit per inning, but left 11 men on base. In the top of the eighth, the visitors had runners on first and second with one out, but Matt Scherer's liner was speared by Fackler and he doubled Bob Barnett off at second.
Then, in the top of the 10th, the Pride strung together consecutive hits from Barnett and Michael Riverso, but Scherer grounded into a fielder's choice with E-town's Weary opting to get the lead runner at third. Scherer stranded five in the game.
Davis worked into the 11th, making him the first Elizabethtown pitcher to throw 10 innings or more this decade. Mike Nocar was the last Blue Jay to do it when he went 10 against Moravian in the Commonwealth Conference Championships May 2, 2003.
Greg McDonough's one-out walk after a nine-pitch at-bat and Justin Healey's single gave the Pride a pair of baserunners.
Davis was lifted from the game for Jones, who got Christie, the first batter he faced, to ground a ball right at Fackler. Fackler's flip was ruled to have pulled Gable off the bag at second, however, so instead of Widener having runners at the corners with two outs, the bases were now loaded.
Catcher Paul Shepherd then pulled a suicide squeeze to score McDonough with the leading run and Elfreth, a .400 hitter, slapped a two-run single to right to make it 4-1.
Weiss finished off an 11-inning four-hitter after loading the bases in the bottom of the inning. He got Dylan Manning to ground out to Riverso at first for the final out. Weiss struck out four, getting the complete game in 132 pitches.
Elizabethtown has a busy week ahead of it. The Jays will be at Juniata Monday, home for Penn State Harrisburg Tuesday (4:15 p.m.) and home for Franklin & Marshall Wednesday (4 p.m.) before their season-deciding series with LVC next Friday and Saturday.
