Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior Chris Schank and freshman Grant Wiest each pounded out four hits while sophomores Nick Faria and Travis Smart earned pitching victories as the Lebanon Valley College baseball team pushed its winning streak to seven after sweeping Moravian College in a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at McGill Park.
Lebanon Valley (13-14, 9-6) won the first game 8-3, then scored a 7-2 victory in the nightcap.
The Flying Dutchmen, who are on their longest winning streak since winning nine in a row in 2002, are now 11-1 over their last 12 games. The Valley has also won its last seven home games and eight of its last nine Commonwealth Conference contests.
With their sweep, the Dutchmen moved into fourth in the Commonwealth Conference standings after starting the day in fifth.
In the first game, Lebanon Valley seemed to be knocking on the door every inning, but it was a 3-3 game heading into the bottom of the sixth. But that’s when the Dutchmen unloaded on three different Moravian relievers with five runs on five hits to bust the game open.
Sophomore Brandon Thompson got things started with leadoff single against reliever Andrew DelRossi before senior Dan Kelly drew a walk and Schank singled to load the bases with one out. Richard Schultz was then called out of the bullpen for the Greyhounds, and junior John Mentzer ripped his first pitch down the leftfield line for a two-run single, making it 5-3.
Senior Richie Schwartz followed with an RBI-double down the rightfield line before Wiest drilled a run-scoring single to give the Dutchmen a 7-3 lead. Freshman Joe Soupik capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right against reliever Zachary Andes.
Faria threw six innings of six-hit ball before giving way to freshman Josh Muscalus, who worked a three-up, three-down seventh.
Moravian (7-18, 4-11 CC) struck for all of their damage in the second, scoring three times on four hits. Pete Moore led off with his fifth home run of the season, and after a flyout, the Greyhounds plated two more runs following two doubles and a single. However, Faria got out of it with his second-straight inning-ending double play.
The Dutchmen chipped into the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice on three hits to make it 3-2. Leading off, Schank jacked a double that short-hopped the left-center wall before scoring two batters later on a Schwartz sac fly. Wiest followed up with a single and scored when Soupik launched a towering double to the warning track in right.
Lebanon Valley pulled even in the third on a Mentzer RBI-single. However, the Dutchmen left the bases loaded in the third and the fourth and stranded two runners in the fifth.
Faria (1-1) settled in after the second, yielding only one more hit the rest of the day. He finished with three strikeout and two walks.
Schwartz led the Dutchmen’s 14-hit attack with a 3-for-3, two-RBI day at the plate. Thompson, Schank, Mentzer, and Wiest each went 2-for-4 while Soupik was 2-for-2.
Matthew Swartz started for Moravian and received a no-decision after working 3 2/3 innings. DelRossi (0-1) was charged with the loss after giving up three runs in 1 2/3.
Lebanon Valley took advantage of four Greyhound errors in the nightcap, as five of the Dutchmen’s six runs scored against starter Christopher Morrison were unearned. Moravian’s blunders started in the second, when Schank led off with a single and scored on a dropped fly ball to right hit by Schwartz.
The Dutchmen pushed their lead to 2-0 with another unearned run in the second. Freshman Mark Mehalko reached on an error leading off, stole second, and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly from junior Corey Lamoureux.
Wiest pushed LVC’s advantage to 3-0 with an RBI-double in the fourth before the Dutchmen broke through with a three-run fifth. The Valley’s first two batters reached on errors and after a Lamoureux sacrifice bunt, Kelly ripped a two-run single up the middle. Mentzer drove in his fourth run of the day with a single, making it 6-0.
A double from Wiest and a sac fly from Mehalko in the sixth gave the Valley a 7-0 bulge, and Smart carried his shutout bid into the seventh. But Moravian scored twice on a walk, single, and double, prompting an LVC pitching change. But with a runner on second and one out, sophomore Kyle Caruthers came on to induce a pair of groundouts.
Smart (2-1) breezed through the lineup for most of the day, allowing only three hits and three walks over the first six frames, when just two runners managed to get into scoring position. That came in the fourth, when Smart escaped a jam that had runners on second and third with one out.
Smart gave up five hits, walked four, and did not have a strikeout. Morrison (2-3) walked one and fanned one.
Schank, who has hit .688 (11-for-16) over the Dutchmen’s last six outings, finished 2-for-2 in the second game while Wiest went 2-for-3.
Mentzer has now hit safely in his last 13 games, and Wiest is on a 10-game hitting streak.
Lebanon Valley continues its five-game homestand on Tuesday, when it hosts Millersville University in a non-conference affair staring at 3:30 p.m.
[Photo - Junior Chris Schank]
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