ELIZABETHTHOWN COLLEGE BASEBALL
Friday, May 2, 2008

Blue Jays Advance to Commonwealth Finals With 4-3 Win over Widener, To Face Messiah on Saturday

Click here for the Messiah box score
Click here for the Widener box score

WEST LAWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College advanced to the Commonwealth Conference baseball finals with a 4-3 victory over Widener University on Friday night at Owls Field.

The Blue Jays will face Messiah College, which moved to the championship round with a 15-4 win over Elizabethtown on Friday afternoon, on Saturday at noon. Elizabethtown must defeat the Falcons twice on Saturday to earn their third consecutive league championship.

In the win over Widener, the Blue Jays (25-11 overall) won despite managing just three hits in the contest, and none after the third inning. Sophomore Adam Hartzell (Spring City, PA/Owen J. Roberts) was equally strong on the mound for Elizabethtown, taking a one-hitter into the eighth inning to earn the victory.

Widener, which was shut out by Elizabethtown 4-0 in the tournament opener on Thursday, scored in the first inning without a hit as Tom DeAngelis walked, stole second, and scored on a fielder's choice.

The Blue Jays answered with two runs in the bottom of the first on RBI groundouts by junior Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) and senior Jared Auman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy), and added a run in the second on an RBI double by sophomore Matt Vinagro (Fredericksburg, VA/Stafford).

After the Blue Jays tacked on a run in the fourth on a fielder's choice, Hartzell shut down the Pride until the eighth when three straight one-out singles, the last by Matt Fischer, cut the Blue Jay lead to 4-2. Sophomore Ryan Barrett (Knox, PA/Keystone) relieved Hartzell and induced two fly outs to escape further damage.

In the ninth, Widener put its first two runners on base and a sacrifice moved them into scoring position. A wild pitch brought home one run and moved the tying runner to third, but senior Chris Minakowski (Roslyn, PA/Abington) relieved and got two comebackers to end the game and pick up his third save of the season.

Hartzell allowed four hits and two earned runs over 7 1/3 innings to improve to 4-0 on the year, striking out three and walking four. Jerry Benedict (2-3) gave up three runs on three hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings to take the loss for Widener.

Against Messiah, the Blue Jays saw the Falcons snap a 2-2 tie with four runs in the sixth inning, then add nine more runs over the final three innings against the Elizabethtown bullpen.

Craig Mease went 4-for-5 with a double, home run and five runs scored, while winning pitcher Sheldon Witmer finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored as part of a 17-hit attack by the Falcons.

Sophomore Rodney Francis (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) finished 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored for the Blue Jays, while Auman went 3-for-5 and scored a run for Elizabethtown.

Messiah took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Witmer, but the Blue Jays scored twicein the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Heaps and an RBI single by senior Brandon Watson (Philadelphia, PA/Central).

Mease hit his 10th home run of the season in the top of the third to tie the game at 2-2, and the Falcons went ahead for good in the sixth on two-run singles by Ben Kirk and Jon Shenk.

The Falcons added three more runs in the seventh on a two-run single by Jonny Ebersole and an error to take a 9-2 lead. Messiah scored twice more in the eighth on an RBI single by Jordan Zimmerman and fielder's choice, and the Blue Jays answered with two runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by sophomore Ben Yeager (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) and a groundout to pull within 11-4.

In the ninth, the Falcons scored four more runs on a balk, RBI singles by Witmer and Zimmerman, and an error to close the scoring.

Witmer (6-1) worked seven innings for the Falcons, allowing 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out five and walking two. Junior Matt Kutz (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) dropped to 5-3 for the Blue Jays after giving up seven hits and six earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Messiah College 15, Elizabethtown Coll. 4
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Messiah College..... 101 004 324 - 15 17 0 (26-15)
Elizabethtown Coll.. 200 000 020 - 4 12 4 (24-11)
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Sheldon Witmer, Ben Jordan (8) and Ben Kirk; Matt Kutz, Chris Minakowski (6), Dan Lauletta (8), Kurt Smith (9), Wayne Leonard (9) and Jared Auman. WP-Witmer (6-1). LP-Kutz (5-3). SO-BB: Witmer 5-2, Jordan 1-1; Kutz 4-2, Minakowski 0-1, Lauletta 0-1, Smith 0-2, Leonard 0-1. HR-Craig Mease (M).

Elizabethtown Coll. 4, Widener University 3
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Widener University.. 100 000 011 - 3 5 1 (27-14)
Elizabethtown Coll.. 210 100 00x - 4 3 0 (25-11)
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Jerry Benedict, Dan Gross (3) and Matt Fischer; Adam Hartzell, Ryan Barrett (8), Chris Minakowski (9) and Tom Semanek. WP-Hartzell (4-0). LP-Benedict (2-3). SV-Minakowski (3). SO-BB: Benedict 0-3, Gross 2-2; Hartzell 3-4, Barrett 0-1, Minakowski 0-0.