ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Third-inning home runs from Tyler Weary and Ryan Schamp pushed Elizabethtown to a 5-1 lead Thursday afternoon at Kevin Scott Boyd Stadium, and the Blue Jays went on to defeat former conference rival Lebanon Valley, 8-3.
Weary and Schamp provided an unexpected power surge to a Blue Jay team that hit just four homers all of last season.
Trailing 1-0 with Alex Holbert on first after singling, Weary got into an 0-2 fastball from LVC starter Jared McCabe for his second career home run, giving Elizabethtown (8-3) a 2-1 lead.
The Blue Jays weren't done there. Sean Jones got ahead in the count and drove a two-out single to right and Brian Portillo showed great patience in working a seven-pitch at bat before his grounder at the shortstop was booted to keep the inning alive.
Lebanon Valley's (4-6) miscue would cost it dearly when Schamp hit his first career round-tripper to left. The ball landed almost exactly where Weary hit his and the three-run shot made it 5-1.
Dylan Manning and the E-town bullpen took care of the rest. Manning, a junior from nearby East Petersburg, threw six innings of four-hit ball for his first win of the year. He gave up a pair of earned runs and walked four, but kept the ball down by inducing 11 ground outs.
Josh Sollenberger, Anthony Lippy and Sean Jones were brilliant in relief. The trio combined for four strikeouts and one hit allowed in three innings.
E-town added to its lead in the fourth. Ryan Shirk, the first batter to face new Dutchmen pitcher Thomas Mattaini, roped a double to the gap in left and later scored on Holbert's RBI single to center.
Holbert came through with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-3 in favor of the home team. The double was Elizabethtown's 30 of the season as team, tops in the Landmark Conference. The senior center fielder was 3-for-5 with three runs batted in.
Weary was also 3-for-5 and had a pair of RBIs, while Schamp finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. The Blue Jays racked up 12 hits against the Dutchmen and saw 8-of-9 players in the starting lineup score a run.
Luke Gatti kept his hitting streak alive, moving it to 12 games after going 1-for-4.
Phill Dohner reached base three times for the visitors with a single, walk and hit by pitch, and stole a base. No LVC batter had more than one hit. McCabe left after giving up five runs (two earned) on seven hits over three innings.
Elizabethtown will head to Catholic Saturday evening to open a three-game series with the Cardinals. The games will be the first for the Blue Jays as members of the Landmark Conference. It was announced Thursday afternoon that all three games will be played at the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. Game one is scheduled for 7 p.m., with Sunday's doubleheader slated for a noon start.
