Box Score

WEST LAWN, Pa. – Brian Campbell and Tristan Harner combined to limit Lebanon Valley to a season-low four hits, and fourth-seeded Widener University picked up a first-round win over the top-seeded Flying Dutchmen in the Commonwealth Conference Baseball Championship Tournament Thursday afternoon at Owls Field.

With the win, Widener (24-14) moves on to Game Four of the tournament on Friday at 3 p.m., when it faces the loser of the other first-round game between third-seeded Messiah College and second-seeded Elizabethtown College.

Lebanon Valley (20-17) will face the Messiah-Elizabethtown loser in an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m.

The Dutchmen led 2-1 after a solo home run by freshman Joe Soupik (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown) in the bottom of the fourth. But Widener took the lead for good with a three-run fifth that gave the Pride a 4-2 lead.

Campbell (4-1) worked seven innings to pick up the win for Widener. He struck out four and walked three. Harner came on to throw the final two frames and pick up the save. He allowed only one batter to reach base in each inning – one on an error and one on a hit batsman.

Senior Matt Sanders went the distance on the mound for the Dutchmen and lost for the first time in his last five starts. Sanders (4-4) yielded seven hits and three walks. All five of Widener’s runs were scored with two outs.

Junior John Mentzer doubled in his first at-bat to bump his hitting streak to 23 games.

The Pride got on the scoreboard with one run in the top of the first. Campbell drew a one-out walk and scored three batters later on a Colin McHale double into the right-center gap.

The Dutchmen answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the second. After Mentzer’s leadoff double, senior Richie Schwartz reached second when his sacrifice bunt was thrown away at first base, allowing Mentzer to score with nobody out. But Campbell escaped further damaged by getting a flyout and a pair of strikeouts.

Soupik followed up with a towering blast to right in the fourth, going after the first pitch for his third homer of the season.

Tom Connelly got things going for Widener in the fifth with a leadoff single. After a sac bunt and flyout, Campbell drew a four-pitch walk before Zak Atiram delivered the big blow, a two-run double. With the count full, Atiram poked an outside pitch to the opposite field, and it just landed fair down the leftfield line to easily score both runners. Mark Fischer drove in Atiram with a single up the middle.

Lebanon Valley pulled to within 4-3 in the seventh. Freshman Charlie Parker was hit with a pitch leading off and was bunted to second before moving to third on a groundout. He scored on an infield single from senior Dan Kelly.

The Pride added an insurance run in the ninth, getting a one-out single from Connelly and a two-out triple from Mike Villari.

Connelly finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

If Lebanon Valley wins its elimination game, it would play again at 7:30 p.m. on Friday for the right to advance to Saturday’s championship round.

[Photo - Freshman Joe Soupik]

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