Box Score Baseball
Commonwealth Conference Tournament
Widener 5, Lebanon Valley 2

YORK, Pa. - Top-seeded Widener worked its way past Lebanon Valley in a 5-2 opening-round win in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament at Santander Stadium on Thursday.

The loss means that the Dutchmen (20-18) will face an elimination game Friday at 11 a.m. against Alvernia, who fell to Messiah on Thursday night in their opener. 

Freshman Michael Houseal (5-3) threw the complete game but took the loss, allowing four earned on eight hits in eight innings of work. Robert Barth (6-1) struck out six allowing two runs off seven hits for the Pride, who will face Messiah for the right to advance to the CC final.

The Dutchmen took an early lead thanks to Tim Filer's first-inning double to plate Phill Dohner, but Widener took the lead with a pair of runs in the third keyed by Paul Shepherd's RBI triple and Michael Elfreth's grounder to bring him in.

The Pride tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh, and LVC's rally in the eight failed to materialize after Filer's RBI triple brought in Dohner once again to make it 5-2.

Filer was 2-for-3 with both runs batted in, while Dohner went 3-for-4. Mike Specht and Zach Edwards also had hits for LVC.