LVC-Messiah Box Score LVC-Widener Box Score
WEST LAWN, Pa. – Fourth-seeded Widener University exploded for seven runs in the first inning and Lebanon Valley was unable to recover, falling 9-2 in the loser's bracket final of the Commonwealth Conference Baseball Championship Tournament Saturday evening at Owls Field.
Top-seeded Lebanon Valley (21-18) rebounded from its first-round loss on Friday by defeating third-seeded Messiah College 14-3 earlier in the day.
The Flying Dutchmen's loss to Widener was a bittersweet moment for senior Dan Kelly, who broke Lebanon Valley's career hits record with his third-inning single. He finished his career with 151 hits, one more than Scott Montgomery '05 had from 2001-04.
Junior John Mentzer also finished his season on a high note, batting safely in both games to end the year on a 25-game hitting streak.
Against Messiah, sophomore Nick Faria worked an 11-hit complete game to push his season record to 4-1. Faria was the beneficiary of 14 LVC hits and 14 walks issued by Messiah pitchers.
The Dutchmen broke the game open with a five-run second, which included three hits and three walks. Senior Richie Schwartz capped the inning with a two-run single to make it a 6-0 game.
Messiah got on the scoreboard with one run in the third, but Lebanon Valley came back with five unanswered runs to open up an insurmountable 11-1 lead.
Freshman Grant Wiest led the Dutchmen at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Kelly went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs while Mentzer and Schwartz finished with two hits apiece.
Faria had just one three-up, three-down inning – the fifth – but he yielded only two earned runs. He walked three and stuck out one.
Starter Jeremy Stoltzfus (3-4) lasted just 1 2/3 for Messiah and suffered the loss, allowing six earned runs on three hits and five walks.
It took Widener just six batters to equal Messiah's run total. The Pride ended up sending 11 batters to the plate in the pivotal first inning which included six hits and two errors.
The Dutchmen cut into the lead in the second, scoring twice against Tristan Harner to make it a 7-2 game. Schwartz drove in a run with a triple that got by a diving leftfielder and rolled all the way to the fence, and Wiest followed up with an RBI single. The Valley was poised to strike again after freshman Joe Soupik singled to put runners on first and second, but Harner induced a big 6-3 inning-ending double play.
Widener tacked on two runs in the two runs in the third before junior Andrew Pipkin came on to throw a sparkling 6 1/3 innings of relief. He retired eight of the first nine batters he faced and did not allow a hit until the seventh.
Harner (5-3) went the distance for Widener, throwing an eight-hit complete game.
Sophomore Mike Snyder started on the hill for the Dutchmen and suffered the loss. He left the game after 1/3 of an inning and was charged with five runs, but only one was earned.
Freshman Charlie Parker finished 2-for-4 for the Valley against the Pride.
-lvc-
