Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley rallied twice and defeated Albright College 8-7 in the nightcap of a Commonwealth Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at sunny, blustery McGill Park.
The twinbill served as the Flying Dutchmen's 2006 home opener.
Albright won the opener 9-1.
With the wind whipping out to right, the two teams combined for 39 hits over the two games. Junior rightfielder Richie Schwartz led the Dutchmen at the plate, going 4-for-6 with a pair of RBIs on the day while junior leftfielder Dan Kelly was 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Freshman centerfielder Bert Malloy added a 4-for-7 day at the plate.
Sophomore shortstop John Mentzer had one hit in each game for LVC to extend his hitting streak to nine.
The Lions took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first of Game Two, but Lebanon Valley (3-8, 1-2 CC) exploded for all eight of its runs from the third through the fifth innings. Albright (5-2, 2-1 CC) had taken a 7-3 lead after a five-run fourth before the Dutchmen came back with three in the fourth and two in the fifth. Senior third baseman Alex Morrison tied it 7-7 with a single before Kelly drove in what held as the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly.
The relief tandem of freshman Nick Faria and senior Ryan Dalton combined to blank Albright over the final 3 2/3 innings. Faria (1-0) threw 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball to earn his first collegiate win. He entered the game in the fourth with runners on first and second and induced a pair of fly-ball outs to get LVC out of the jam. Dalton retired all six batters he faced to pick up his second collegiate save and the first since his freshman season.
In the first game, Albright took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first against LVC starter Kyle Caruthers, then broke it open with a seven-run, five-hit second, when it sent 11 batters to the plate. The Lions put men on first and second with no outs following a hit batsman and a walk before a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third. Then the next five Albright hitters reached base. Jordan Boyer and Kyle Wenrich had back-to-back RBI-singles and after Chad Mackey walked, No. 3 hitter Nate Ottaviani stroked a two-run single up the middle.
Tim Connor brought home Ottaviani with a triple to right-center to make it 7-0, and after a groundout, Joe Perry singled in a run to cap the big inning.
Lebanon Valley scored its only run of Game One on a triple from Malloy in the third. Albright added an insurance run in the sixth.
The Dutchmen also received excellent relief pitching in the opener. Senior Taylor Sgrignoli worked four innings and held the Lions to one run before classmate Brian McFarlane came on to throw a three-up, three-down seventh.
Malloy and Schwartz were both 2-for-3 in Game One.
Caruthers (0-2) was charged with loss while David Omlor (1-1) worked five innings to get the win for Albright.
Kelly sparked the Dutchmen's first rally in the nightcap. With one out in the third inning, he drove a ball deep to center, then turned on the afterburners for a stand-up triple. He scored one batter later on an RBI-groundout from sophomore second baseman Corey Lamoureux. Then with two outs, Malloy drilled a double to left-center before Schwartz and Mentzer drove in one run apiece with a single and triple, respectively.
Albright, which had pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the first against freshman starter Charley Kline, batted around for the second time en route to a five-run, five-hit fourth before Faria put out the fire.
Lebanon Valley pieced together four hits in the fourth against Albright starter Dan Johnson and Andrew Good, the first of three Lion relievers, to make it a 7-6 game. Lamoureux and Schwartz each had RBI-singles in the inning.
An error opened the door for the Dutchmen in the fifth, when Jeremy Kondisko was summoned out of the bullpen to start the inning. Sophomore designated hitter Chris Schank reached on an Albright miscue leading off and was sacrificed to second by junior first baseman Brad Brandt. Senior catcher Matt Rich walked before Morrison blooped a single just in front of diving Albright centerfielder Mackey to score Schank. Kelly followed up by his game-winning sacrifice fly, as he lined the first pitch deep to center to score Rich from third.
Lamoureux, Malloy, and Schwartz had two hits apiece in the nightcap. Lamoureux and Schwartz each drove in two runs while Rich scored twice.
Kondisko (1-1) was handed the loss in Game Two.
Lebanon Valley returns to action on Tuesday, when it hosts William Paterson in a non-conference outing starting at 3 p.m.
[Photo - Junior rightfielder Richie Schwartz]
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