ELIZABETHTHOWN COLLEGE BASEBALL
Friday, March 28, 2008

Blue Jays Defeat Widener 10-7 in Conference Opener

Click here for the box score

CHESTER, Pa. --- Senior Jared Auman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and junior Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) pitched 7 2/3 innings to earn the victory as Elizabethtown College defeated Widener University 10-7 in the Commonwealth Conference baseball opener for both teams on Friday afternoon.

Junior Eric Luff (Lincoln University, PA/Avon Grove) finished 2-for-5 with three runs scored as the Blue Jays (10-6 overall, 1-0 Commonwealth) overcame a 2-0 deficit with four runs in the fifth and three runs each in the sixth and seventh.

Matt Fischer hit a two-run home run and knocked in three runs for the Pride (15-3 overall, 0-1 Commonwealth), whose 12-game winning streak came to an end with the loss.

Heaps (3-1) allowed six hits and five runs (three earned) while striking out six to earn the win, while Ryan Walter (4-1) walked seven and gave up seven runs on six hits to take the loss for Widener.

Widener scored the game's first run in the bottom of the third on an error, and loaded the bases with one out. Fischer then hit a drive to deep center field that Blue Jay sophomore Rodney Francis (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) hauled in with a spectacular diving catch.

On the play, the Pride runners on second and third base both came in to score, but the runner from second base was ruled on appeal to have left early, leaving Widener with just one run instead of potentially three thanks to the catch by Francis.

In the fifth, the Blue Jays pushed across four runs on a bases-loaded walk to Heaps, a two-run single by Auman and an RBI single from senior Brandon Watson (Philadelphia, PA/Central) to take a 4-2 lead.

The Blue Jays added three more runs in the sixth on an error, a triple by Francis and a single by Auman, and tacked on three more in the seventh on a two-run triple by Luff and a single by Francis to take a 10-2 lead.

Pitching with the lead, Heaps did not allow a hit from the third inning until two outs in the eighth, when Tom DeAngelis tripled and scored on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Fischer hit a two-run homer, his fifth of the season, to cut the Blue Jay lead to 10-5.

The Pride tacked on two runs in the ninth on an RBI double by Mike Cahill and an RBI single by Tom Mahoney to pull within 10-7, but senior Chris Minakowski (Roslyn, PA/Abington) induced a popup to end the game and earn his second save of the season.

Elizabethtown finished with an 11-9 edge in hits in the contest, but Heaps went 0-for-2 with three walks to end his season-opening hitting streak at 15 games.

Elizabethtown Coll. 10, Widener University 7
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Elizabethtown Coll.. 000 043 300 - 10 11 2 (10-6)
Widener University.. 002 000 032 - 7 9 2 (15-3)
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Sam Heaps, Dan Lauletta (8), Chris Minakowski (9) and Tom Semanek; Ryan Walter, Mike Miller (6), Matt Hoffman (8), Tim Kenney (9) and Matt Fischer. WP-Heaps (3-1). LP-Walter (4-1). SV-Minakowski (2). SO-BB: Heaps 6-2, Lauletta 0-0, Minakowski 0-0; Walter 6-7, Miller 3-0, Hoffman 0-1, Kenney 2-0. HR-Fischer (W).