Alvernia University Athletics

The spring season before the Class of 2005 enrolled at Alvernia College, the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Baseball Championship was contested at Frawley Stadium—home of the Blue Rocks—in Wilmington, Delaware.  The following season, four PAC teams met at Bear Stadium in Boyertown for the first time.
 
For those who haven’t been to Bear Stadium, it’s the high school/legion equivalent of the Field of Dreams.  From 2002 to 05 Alvernia played 19 games in Bear Stadium going 11-8 with a pair of PAC Titles.  The number of memories created far exceed that of games played. 
 
Bear Stadium was a great stage to showcase some of Alvernia’s greatest rivalries.  Chief among them being any Alvernia game vs Gwynedd-Mercy.  In three PAC Championships over that four-year span, Boyertown hosted three rivalry games between Yogi’s Crusaders and Murphy’s Griffins—with the good guys going 3-0.  Every Alvernia-Gwynedd-Mercy game was worth the price of admission.
 
In that first PAC Championship at Boyertown in 2002, the Crusaders claimed their fifth PAC title, and returned two weeks later for the NCAA Regional. In its second game of that regional, Alvernia plated eight runs in the sixth inning of a 15-12 win over DeSales to advance to the winners bracket final.  Then a day later, the Crusaders repeated the feat with an 8-run seventh in another comeback win over DeSales to advance to the championship series.
 
The 2003 PAC championship was the last one contested at Frawley Stadium and the Crusaders carried some of that Boyertown magic down to Delaware for conference title No. 9.  The Crusaders were down 8-2 in the ninth of the winners bracket final and down to their final strike to then freshman Dan Myers before staging an epic comeback that ended in a 9-8, extra-inning victory.  The championship game that year—a 19-18 Alvernia win over Gwynedd-Mercy—was so remarkable that legendary Blue Rocks’ Public Address Announcer John McAdams kept a copy of the box score taped to the wall of his radio booth for seasons to come.
 
In 2004 the PAC Championship returned to Boyertown and while it didn’t go the way of the Crusaders, the success of the PAC—along with some encouragement from Boyertown resident and Alvernia Athletic Director John McCloskey—helped spur a contract between Bear Stadium and the PAC to host the next three years’ championships in Boyertown.  This team, that heads into the Alvernia Athletics Hall of Fame tonight made sure that stretch got off to a good start.
 
In the Crusaders first game back in Boyertown in the spring of 2005, Zach Lutz, Edwin Tavarez, and PAC Championship MVP Dan Pierce each homered in an 8-7 win over Gwynedd-Mercy, and Anthony Recker homered and scored twice in a 8-4 win over the Griffins in the championship game.  It marked the seventh PAC title and fourth NCAA appearance for the Crusaders.
 
In the regional—back at Bear Stadium—Alvernia opened with a 6-5 win over The College of New Jersey.  Jason Zeigler pitched a complete game and Pete Jordan hit his first home run of the season.  After a loss to DeSales knocked the Crusaders into the losers bracket, they got back on track with a 5-2 win over Messiah College in a game that featured three future major leagues—Lutz, Recker, and Messiah’s Chris Heisey.
 
Alvernia got seven strong innings from Doug Fritchman in a 5-3 win over DeSales to advance to the Championship series against top-seeded Rowan.  Recker homered twice in the game and Pierce drove in the winning run in the ninth to force the if-necessary game where the Crusaders ran into Rowan record-holder Josh Schwartz in relief in a 6-0 Rowan win.
 
At this time we would like to invite the members of the 2005 Baseball Team up to the stage for their induction.
 
Eric Bonds
Steven Burdan
Tim Carroll
Brandon Dewald
Sean Dugan
Tim Frisch
Peter Jordan
Andrew Long
Ryan Mark
Dan Myers
Dan Pierce
Todd Stapleton
Jason Zeigler
Ryan Zimmerman
 
Head Coach Yogi Lutz
Assistant Coach Dan Conte
Assistant Coach Tom Minick
 
The 2005 Baseball Team finished the season with a school-record 41 wins—going 41-6 overall.  It won the PAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Final. Defeated Rowan 6-5 behind two home runs from Anthony Recker to force if-necessary game.  This team was the first Alvernia baseball team to come within one win of World Series appearance.  Set record for consecutive conference victories at 19.