BOX SCORE

Trenton, N.J. (May 21, 2010) - No. 2 seed Kean University (36-11) stole a run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 3-2 win over #4 Alvernia University (33-12) Friday afternoon at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Baseball Regional at Waterfront Park.

The Cougars got a lead off walk in a 2-2 tie in the eighth and after a sacrifice bunt and a fly out, the Crusaders intentionally walked clean up hitter Ken Gregory.  Gregory got into a run down trying to steal second and before the Crusaders could tag him out the end the inning, Dylan Laguna scampered home from third with the go-ahead run.

Alvernia senior Steve DeBarberie (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner), who went 3-for-3 at the plate, led off the top of the ninth with a single.  He took second on a sacrifice by by Tim Ahlquist (Millville, N.J./Millville) and advanced to third when Brian Witkowski (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) grounded out to first.  Kean went to the pen for the first time of the day with two out in the ninth and the tying run at third, and Steven Montalbano got Chris Ray (Exton, Pa./West Chester Henderson) on a ground ball to short to end the game.

Kean moves on in the losers bracket to face Widener University while the Crusaders season ends in the NCAA Regional for the second straight year.

Alvernia starter Andrew Kirk (Media, Pa./Penncrest) started the game hitting the first two batters he faced, but Laguna was picked off first and Steven Giambrone was caught stealing.  The Cougars then racked up three straight two-out hits to plate the first run of the game.

Kean went up 2-0 on a single, an error, and a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Alvernia, which had baserunners in all but one inning and had a runner thrown out at the plate in the second, finally broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth.  Witkowski and Ray both singled to put runners on first and third and Witkowski came in when the Cougars made an error on a pick off play.  Ray took third on the play and scored on a Chuck Krichling (Chesterfield, N.J./Northern Burlington) fielder's choice to tie the game at 2-2.

Alvernia had the potential go-ahead run at third in the sixth and had one runner on in the eighth, but couldn't push ahead.

Kirk gave up two runs, one earned, over six innings on eight hits with four strikeouts.  Ray was 2-for-5 to join DeBarberie with multi-hit games.

#2 Kean 3, #4 Alvernia 2