La PLUME, Pa.—If there's one thing that veteran Keystone College baseball coach Jamie Shevchik can count on, it's the Giants' abundance of quality pitching.
In today's 5-3 win over Cabrini University in game 1 of the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) tournament today at Christy Mathewson Field, Shevchik got a brilliant pitching effort from freshman Nathan Hinkley (Bradenton, Fla./Saint Lucie West Centennial), who came on in relief and did not allow a hit over four innings as Keystone improved to 30-9. The Giants will now advance to play a winner's bracket game against Gwynedd Mercy University Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. at Owls Field at Ted Palka Park in West Lawn, Pennsylvania.
Cabrini, in just its second season of intercollegiate competition and playing in its first post-season tournament game, fell to 20-18 and will play Neumann University at 3:00 p.m. The Cavaliers, who lost a pair of one-run games to Keystone earlier this year, opened up a 3-1 lead after three innings before Hinkley and senior Troy Terzi (Wallingford, Conn./Notre Dame) shut them down.
Senior Eric Drzewiecki (Hellertown, Pa./Phillipsburg) led the Giants at the plate, going 3-for-3, including a solo home run in the eighth inning, juniors Chris Panzarella (Hazle Township, Pa./Hazleton Area) and Johann Paiagua finished with two hits apiece and junior Dakota McFadden (Rocky Point, NC/Heide Trask) drove in two runs, including a sacrifice fly in the first inning to give Keystone a 1-0 lead.
The Cavaliers looked anything but intimated against the nine-time defending champion Giants. They scored twice in the second inning, on a run-scoring triple by freshman Steven Priest and a ground out by senior Dylan Butler that scored Priest, and added another run in the third when junior Tyler Norris reached base on a fielder's choice, stole second, and came around to score on a single to left field by senior Brett Kuchera.
Cabrini also came up with several clutch plays to end potential Giant rallies. In the sixth, losing pitcher Griffin Hays came on in relief with two outs and the bases-loaded and got a strikeout and Norris threw out a runner at the plate from right field in the seventh after Keystone took the lead for good with a two run rally that included another sacrifice fly from McFadden and a run-scoring single from sophomore Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa./Honesdale).
Terzi relieved Hinkley in the ninth inning, and after giving up a two-out double to Alex Del Giudice, struck out the last batter to earn his first save of the season.
Priest finished with two hits for Cabrini, which also received a solid pitching performance from freshman Corey Hunt, who went 5 and 2/3 innings and allowed just two earned runs.
Keystone news & notes
- Terzi, the two-time reigning CSAC pitcher of the year, threw 15 pitches, 10 for strikes
- With today's win, Hinkley is now 5-1 on the season, with a 3.40 earned run average
- Giants have now won 30 games for the fourth straight year and for the 16th time in Shevchik's 17-year tenure as head coach
- Junior Mohammed Hussein (Queens, NY/William C. Bryant), the 2018 CSAC player of the year, finished with a hit and scored twice today
- Keystone split with Gwynedd Mercy during the regular season, losing 11-6 at home on April 30, and winning two days later on the road, 7-4
- Drzewiecki's home run was his fourth of the season and his three hits today raised his batting average to .391