BOX SCORE

Boyertown, PA (May 6, 2006) – Senior Eric Bonds (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor), the career leader in hits at Alvernia College, delivered a two-out bloop single in the top of the 11th inning to drive home the winning run as the third-seeded Crusaders bettered top-seeded Arcadia University, 6-5 Saturday afternoon in the winners bracket final of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Baseball Championships at Bear Stadium.

            Bonds flipped a high pop up just into the outfield grass behind first base allowing Ben Reifsnyder (Wymossing, PA/Wilson) to score from second base.  Alvernia starter Tim Frisch (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) allowed just one run after the second inning, a solo home run in the sixth.  Jeremy Hess (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) pitched 2.2 innings of shutout relief to pick up the win and Andrew Long (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) closed out his third save of the season with a perfect 11th.

            Alvernia (29-11), which picked up the 496th victory for head coach Yogi Lutz, will face the winner of Saturday night’s losers bracket final between Arcadia and No. 2 Gwynedd-Mercy on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

            The Crusaders started Saturday’s game the same way it did on Friday with a pair of runs in the top half of the first.  Sophomore Tim Carroll (Bensalem, PA/Conwell Egan) started a streak of three straight single to open the game, scoring on a Zach Lutz (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) single to left.  Junior DH Jason Zeigler (Shillington, PA/Governor Mifflin) followed with a sacrifice bunt moving Lutz and Bonds to second and third, and Chris Raniere (Manalapan, NJ/St. John Vianney) lifted a sac fly to left.

            Arcadia (27-13) responded with a run in the home half of the first.  John Curreri (Clinton, NJ/North Hunterdon) singled with one out and took second when Steve Burdan (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) could not field the ball cleanly in left.  Junior first baseman John Connell (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) brought Curreri around with a single to right center and Alvernia survived another error to end the first with a 2-1 lead.

            Connell delivered two more runs in the home half of the second inning as the Scarlet Knights opened up a 4-2 lead.  Frisch walked two batters with one out and John Bellis (Audubon, NJ/Audubon) doubled in the game-tying run.  Curreri fouled out to the catcher leaving runners at second and third, but Connell came through with an infield single of the glove of a diving Raniere that scored a pair with Bellis hustling all the way.

            The lead remained two until Alvernia plated a pair in the fifth to tie the score at 4-4.  Junior catcher Scott Schuler (Aston, PA/Sun Valley) was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the fifth and was sacrificed to second.  Carroll blooped a well placed double to right center with Schuler reaching third after waiting to make sure the hit was down.  Bonds picked up Schuler with a groundout to short and Lutz fired a clutch, run-scoring single up the middle with two out.

            Frisch worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth, and after the Crusaders went in order in the sixth, Bellis regained the lead for Arcadia with a two-out solo home run to leftcenter.

            Senior Dan Fassl (Bangor, PA/Bangor) relieved Arcadia starter Matt Remchuk (Mt. Ephraim, NJ/Audubon) to start the seventh and set down five straight batters bringing Raniere to the plate with two out in the eighth.  Raniere leaned into a Fassl breaking ball and appeared to have first on the hit by pitch, but the home plate umpired brought him back ruling he could have avoided the pitch.  Back in the box after some discussion, Raniere smacked the next breaking pitch he saw over the leftfield fence to tie the score at 5-5.

            Frisch allowed a walk and a sacrifice to start the eighth and gave way to Hess who got out of the inning with a groundout and a strikeout.

            Both pitchers worked around singles in the ninth inning to force extra innings.  Raniere drew a two out walk in the 10th and was stranded and after Hess plunked Anthony Ragona (Marlton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) with one out, the Crusaders turned their first double play of the day to send the game to the 11th.

            Reifsnyder opened the 11th with a single through the left side and took second on Schuler’s sacrifice bunt.  Sophomore Edwin Tavarez (Reading, PA/Reading) grounded out to third leaving Reifsnyder at second and after Carroll was hit by a pitch, Bonds delivered with his 252nd career base hit.

            Long relieved Hess to start the home half of the 11th and recorded a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the game.

#3 Alvernia 6, #1 Arcadia 5 (11 innings)