ELIZABETHTHOWN COLLEGE BASEBALL
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Sam Heaps Fires Seven-Hitter as Blue Jays Defeat Widener 4-0 in Commonwealth Conference Opener

Click here for the box score

WEST LAWN, Pa. --- Junior Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) tossed a seven-hitter for his second consecutive shutout as Elizabethtown College opened the Commonwealth Conference baseball tournament with a 4-0 win over Widener University on Thursday afternoon at Owls Field.

The Blue Jays (24-10 overall), who have won the conference tournament in each of the last two years, will face Messiah College on Friday at 3:00 p.m. after the Falcons blanked Albright College 3-0 in Thursday's late game.

Heaps (6-1) struck out three and walked three in the first postseason shutout by the Blue Jays since 2001. In his last start, he threw a two-hitter and struck out nine in a 9-0 win over Albright last Friday afternoon.

Junior Adam Sheibley (Landisburg, PA/West Perry) went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in, and threw out a runner at the plate, while junior Tom Semanek (Swoyersville, PA/Bishop Hoban) finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Blue Jays, who won for the 13th time in their last 15 games.

The Blue Jays took 1-0 led in the bottom of the fourth inning as senior Jared Auman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) singled with one out and scored on a two-out RBI single by Semanek.

In the fifth, Elizabethtown added another run as sophomore Matt Vinagro (Fredericksburg, VA/Stafford) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a double to left-center by Sheibley . One out later, Sheibley came home on an RBI single by Heaps to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.

Widener threatened in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out. However, Heaps worked out of the jam by inducing a foul out and a fly out to end the inning.

The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the eighth as senior Brandon Watson (Philadelphia, PA/Central) walked with two outs, moved up on a single by Semanek and scored on a single down the left field line by sophomore Ben Yeager (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts).

In the ninth, the Pride picked up back-to-back singles with one out. Alex Neiman followed with a single to left, but Sheibley threw out the Widener runner at the plate for the second out. Heaps then struck out pinch-hitter Justin Maziarz to end the game.

Tristan Harner (6-3) took the loss for Widener (25-13 overall) after allowing six hits and three earned runs in an eight-inning complete game. It was his first career loss to the Blue Jays after three straight wins, including one in last year's conference tournament.

Tom Connelly went 2-for-3 for Widener, which will play Albright in an elimination game on Friday at 11:00 a.m.

Elizabethtown Coll. 4, Widener University 0
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Widener University.. 000 000 000 - 0 7 0 (25-13)
Elizabethtown Coll.. 000 120 01x - 4 8 0 (24-10)
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Tristan Harner and Matt Fischer; Sam Heaps and Tom Semanek. WP-Heaps (6-1). LP-Harner (6-3). SO-BB: Harner 1-1; Heaps 3-3.