ELIZABETHTHOWN COLLEGE BASEBALL
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Elizabethtown Splits Doubleheader at Albright

Click here for the game one box score
Click here for the game two box score

READING, Pa. --- Junior Matt Kutz (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) tossed a five-hit shutout in a 3-0 win in the opener, but game two turned into an outright slugfest as Albright College held on for an 18-17 win over Elizabethtown College and earn a split of their Commonwealth Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.

Kutz fired the Blue Jays' second straight shutout against the Lions, after junior Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) threw a two-hitter in a 9-0 win on Friday. He struck out one and did not walk a batter, while Elizabethtown posted all of the game's runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Sophomore Rodney Francis (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) broke the scoreless tie by being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Heaps followed with a two-run single to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.

Kutz (5-2) made the lead stand up, retiring 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced in his first complete game of the season. Shane Stein (3-2) took the loss for Albright after allowing all three runs on five hits in four innings of work.

Elizabethtown finished with six hits in game one, with Heaps going 2-for-4 and sophomore Matt Vinagro (Fredericksburg, VA/Stafford) picking up two hits in three at-bats.

Game two was a three-hour, 25-minute marathon that saw nine pitchers used and the teams combine for 35 runs on 33 hits, 13 walks, seven errors and two grand-slam home runs.

The Blue Jays (22-10 overall, 10-2 Commonwealth) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by senior Jared Auman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy), but the Lions (16-16 overall, 7-5 Commonwealth) jumped on the board in the bottom of the inning as Jeff Kulp hit a grand slam.

Albright scored three more runs in the second on an RBI double by Jason Dunkleberger, an RBI single from Jordan Boyer and a fielder's choice to take a 7-1 lead, but the Blue Jays exploded for eight runs in the top of the third on RBI singles by Auman, senior Brandon Watson (Philadelphia, PA/Central) and junior Tom Semanek (Swoyersville, PA/Bishop Hoban).

Sophomore Brian Kiernan (Garden City, NY/Garden City) then launched a grand slam to give Elizabethtown an 8-7 lead, and junior Adam Sheibley (Landisburg, PA/West Perry) capped the inning with an RBI single to push the Blue Jay lead to 9-7.

However, Albright responded with seven runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Stein, an RBI double by Dunkelberger, a two-run single by Boyer, two errors and a bases-loaded walk to go on top 14-9.

Tim Conner hit a solo homer in the fourth to extend the Lion lead to 15-9, but the Blue Jays countered with three runs in the sixth on a two-run single by Heaps and a fielder's choice to cut the Albright lead to 15-12.

The Lions added three critical insurance runs in the last of the sixth on a two-run double by Kulp and an error. In the seventh, Elizabethtown scored five times on a double by Francis, a groundout and RBI singles by Watson, Kiernan and Vinagro to pull within 18-17, but Derek Althouse induced a popup with the tying run on second to earn the save.

Auman led the Blue Jays in game two by going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, while Kiernan went 3-for-5 with six runs batted in. Sheibley finished 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and three runs scored, Watson finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and Francis went 2-for-5 and crossed the plate four times.

Kulp drove in seven runs to lead Albright, and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, while Dunkelberger finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored and Boyer went 2-for-3 with three RBI and four runs scored.

Elizabethtown finished with a 20-13 advantage in hits over Albright, but Blue Jay pitchers issued 11 walks. The Blue Jays also committed four errors, leading to four unearned runs.

Mike Billera-Smith (1-0) allowed three runs on three hits in three innings of relief to gain the win for Albright, while senior Chris Minakowski (Roslyn, PA/Abington) took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season.

Game one
Elizabethtown Coll. 3, Albright College 0
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Elizabethtown Coll.. 000 030 0 - 3 6 0 (22-9)
Albright College.... 000 000 0 - 0 5 1 (15-16)
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Matt Kutz and Jared Auman; Shane Stein, Kevin Butler (5) and Matt Kozlowski. WP-Kutz (5-2). LP-Stein (3-2). SO-BB: Kutz 1-0; Stein 2-3; Butler 1-2.

Game two
Albright College 18, Elizabethtown Coll. 17
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Elizabethtown Coll.. 108 003 5 - 17 20 4 (22-10)
Albright College.... 437 103 x - 18 13 3 (16-16)
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Adam Hartzell, Dan Lauletta (2), Chris Minakowski (3), Kurt Smith (5), Ryan Barrett (6) and Tom Semanek; Tim Flannery, Mike Billera-Smith (3), Jordan Boyer (6), Derek Althouse (7) and Matt Kozlowski, Frank Nastasi (6). WP-Billera-Smith (1-0). LP-Minakowski (3-2). SV-Althouse (1). SO-BB: Hartzell 1-3, Lauletta 1-2, Minakowski 0-2, Smith 0-4, Barrett 1-0; Flannery 3-1, Billera-Smith 2-1, Boyer 2-0, Althouse 0-0. HR-Brian Kiernan (E), Tim Conner (A), Jeff Kulp (A).