Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
CHESTER, Pa. – Senior Matt Sanders fired a five-hit shutout, lifting Lebanon Valley to a 2-0 win in the second game of a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader as the Flying Dutchmen salvaged a split at Widener University Friday afternoon.
Widener (18-7, 7-4 CC) won the first game 5-1, but the Dutchmen won the three-game season series. Lebanon Valley (7-14, 3-6 CC) defeated the Pride 12-11 in the Dutchmen’s fourth-straight walk-off victory on Thursday at McGill Park.
After clubbing 15 hits against Widener on Thursday, the Dutchmen were held to 10 hits over the two seven-inning games on Friday. In the opener, Walt Albright threw a complete-game five-hitter to stay perfect (4-0) on the season. He walked three and struck out one.
Sophomore Travis Smart started on the mound for the Dutchmen in Game One, and he left the contest after giving up three runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings. Junior Andrew Pipkin threw the final 3 2/3 and yielded two runs on four hits.
Lebanon Valley took a 1-0 lead on a RBI-double from freshman Grant Wiest in the top of the second, but Widener scored five unanswered runs the rest of the way. Colin McHale tied it up with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second, then drove in two more runs with a single in the third, when he was the first Widener batter to face Pipkin.
Tom Connelly gave the Pride a pair of insurance runs with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Senior Richie Schwartz led the Dutchmen at the plate in the first game, going 2-for-2 with a pair of singles.
The second game featured a pitcher’s dual between Sanders and Brian Campbell, who carried a no-hitter into the fifth before Wiest ripped a one-out single to rightfield to put runners on first and second. A flyout to right put runners on the corners, but Campbell induced an inning-ending pop-out.
The Dutchmen broke through with an unearned run in the sixth to give Sanders all the offense he would need. With one out, junior Corey Lamoureux reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and advanced to second on the play. Senior Dan Kelly up with an RBI-triple to center, but was caught attempting to steal home with junior Chris Schank at the plate. Schank and junior John Mentzer rapped back-to-back singles before Campbell got out of it with a strikeout.
Lebanon Valley pushed its lead to 2-0 when freshman Joe Soupik doubled down the rightfield line with one out and scored two batters later on a single to center from sophomore Brandon Thompson.
Sanders worked out of jams in the early going, as Widener had at least one hit in each of the first four innings. The Pride had runners on the corners in both the third and the fourth, and after Sanders worked his first three-up, three-down inning, Widener threatened again in the sixth with a one-out walk. Two batters later, Schank threw out his second would-be base-stealer of the game to end the inning, and Sanders retired the side in order in the seventh to pick up his first win of the season and his third career shutout, the first since the last start of his sophomore campaign in 2005.
Sanders (1-3) walked two and struck out four. Campbell (1-1) also worked a five-hitter, walking three and fanning two.
Lebanon Valley returns to Commonwealth Conference action Monday and Tuesday, when it plays a make-up series against Albright College. The Dutchmen visit the Lions for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Monday before hosting a single game starting at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
[Photo - Senior Matt Sanders]
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