Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the fourth inning and never looked back, defeating Widener University 15-6 in a Commonwealth Conference baseball game Monday afternoon at McGill Park.
With the win, Lebanon Valley (7-16, 5-7 CC) won its three-game season series with Widener (18-7-1, 8-3-1 CC) after splitting a doubleheader with the Pioneers on Sunday.
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Widener but due to field renovations, it had to be moved to LVC. However, the Pioneers served as the home team.
The Flying Dutchmen pounded out 14 hits, tying a season-high, with 10 different players and all nine starters getting at least one hit. Lebanon Valley's 15 runs were also a season-high and marked the team's highest offensive output since its 15-4 win at Ursinus College on April 27, 2004. It was also the Dutchmen's most runs scored at home since a 17-4 win over Susquehanna University on April 23, 2002.
Freshman Bert Malloy and sophomore John Mentzer combined to drive in over half of LVC's runs, with each player knocking in a career-high four.
Senior Ryan Dalton got the start on the mound for the Dutchmen and worked five innings to pick up his first win of the season.
Lebanon Valley wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, pushing across four runs on two hits and two walks in the top of the first against Widener starter Bill Davis. After a run-scoring double from junior Richie Schwartz and an RBI-groundout from Mentzer, junior Brad Brandt clubbed a two-run homer to left, his second of the season, to put LVC on top 4-0.
Dalton allowed only two hits over the first four innings, but the Pioneers worked five walks and had excellent scoring chances in the second and third. However, Dalton left the bases loaded in the second and, with runners on first and second with one out in the third, retired Widener's Nos. 4-5 hitters to get out of the jam.
The Dutchmen broke open the game in the fourth inning, when they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six times on five hits. Senior Alex Morrison and sophomore Corey Lamoureux each stroked an RBI-single before Malloy drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Mentzer clobbered a pitch over the centerfielder's head for a three-run double, making it 10-0.
Widener got to Dalton with two runs on three hits in the fifth, but Lebanon Valley restored its 10-run lead with a two-run sixth, when Malloy jacked his first collegiate home run. His towering, two-run shot to left that cleared the trees behind the wall made it 12-2.
The Pioneers made things interesting in the seventh, scoring four times on four hits to pull to within six runs. But the Dutchmen plated three runs over the eighth and the ninth to set the final score.
Dalton (1-3) held Widener to a pair of runs on five hits and five walks while striking out five. Sophomore Andrew Pipkin worked 1 1/3 out of the pen for the Valley before freshman Nick Faria tossed the final 2 2/3 innings and retired eight of the nine batters he faced. Faria's only baserunner got on via a single, and he set down seven batters in a row to end the game.
Davis (3-1) lost for the first time this season after getting tagged for 10 runs on eight hits and five walks over four innings.
With his home run, Malloy has now hit safely in his last 10 games.
Lebanon Valley returns to action on Wednesday, when it hosts William Paterson University at 3:30 p.m. in a non-conference outing.
[Photo - Sophomore Corey Lamoureux, who was 2-for-4 with two runs in Lebanon Valley's 15-6 win over Widener on Monday]
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