BOX SCORE

Boyertown, Pa. (May 2, 2008) – Gwynedd-Mercy College freshman Andrew Ball (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain) threw a complete game to lead the second seeded Griffins (19-18) to a 6-1 win over #3 Centenary (18-18) Friday afternoon in game one of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Baseball Championships at Bear Stadium in Boyertown.

The Cyclones put the first run on the board in the second inning plating Zach Reynolds (Yorktown, N.Y./Yorktown) on three straight two-out singles. Sophomore leadoff hitter Mark DeMaio (Morris Plains, N.J./Parsippany Hills) walked to load the bases, but Ball got out of the inning escaped further damage with an inning-ending groundout.

The Griffins took the lead in the third inning scoring twice on two singles and two RBI groundouts. Dave Deodato (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) opened the inning with the Griffins second hit of the day, an inside-out single down the right field line. Mark Mattes (Doylestown, Pa./C.B. East) singled to left field and took second when the Cyclones threw to third in an attempt to get Deodato. Designated hitter Dan Strack (Langhorne, Pa./Holy Ghost) followed with a groundball to second that forced in the first run and Tim McMenamin's (Maple Shade, N.J./Maple Shade) swinging bunt scored Mattes with the go-ahead run.

GMC scored its third run on a leadoff home run by Mike Albert (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) in the fourth inning and scored again in the fifth on a pair of base hits. Deodato doubled to right field to start the inning and moved up to third on Mattes' bunt single. Strack followed with a fielder's choice ground out that plated Deodato.

Both teams went scoreless through the sixth inning and Ball posted his fifth straight scoreless frame in the seventh and two groundouts and a strikeout. Centenary lefty Andrew Koncen (Elizabeth, N.J./Union Catholic) looked ready to match Ball's effort in the seventh getting the leadoff hitter on a strikeout, his fifth straight out recorded via the K, and Mattes to follow on a grounder to third, but he hit Strack for the second time in the game and McMenamin followed with his fifth homer of the year for a 6-1 Griffin lead.

After another scoreless frame in the eighth Ball took the hill in the ninth looking for the complete game. He surrendered a leadoff single to Jared Grant (Flanders, N.J./CC of Morris) but the Griffin defense erased him on a beautiful around-the-horn double play. DeMaio walked with two out and Ball ended the game with his fifth strikeout of the day.

Gwynedd-Mercy will face the winner of Friday night's game between #1 Alvernia and #4 Misericordia at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday with the winner heading into Sunday's championship. Centenary will face the loser of the Alvernia/Misericordia game in the first elimination game of the tournament Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m.

#2 Gwynedd-Mercy 6, #3 Centenary 1