BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (May 1, 2011) - Alvernia University (32-5) got six strong innings from senior Mike Moran (Lafayette, N.Y./Fabius-Pompey) and scratched out six runs on five hits for a 6-4 win over Rutgers-Newark (21-16) Sunday afternoon in the regular-season baseball finale at Angelica Park.

Alvernia will be the top seed in the Commonwealth Conference playoffs which begin on Thursday at Owls Field in West Lawn.  The Crusaders will open the double-elimination tournament playing #4 Elizabethtown College at 4:00 and #2 Messiah College will play #3 Widener University in Thursday's nightcap.  The tournament will continue Friday and Saturday.  The winner will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.

The Crusaders scored twice in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Carman (Robesonia, Pa./Conrad Weiser) and a fielder's choice by Eric Domitrovits (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) then plated three runs in the seventh without a hit to take a 5-0 lead.

Moran exited in the seventh giving up just four hits.  Cody Smith (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic) threw a pair of scoreless innings before Austin Rohrbach (Maxatawny, Pa./Kutztown) took the ball for the ninth and surrendered four runs on four hits.  Alvernia sophomore Leon Stimpson (Philadelphia, Pa./Malvern Prep) homered in the bottom of the ninth to put the Crusaders up 6-0 heading into the ninth.

The Crusaders have eclipsed 30 wins in a season for the fifth time in the last seven years and are a win shy of last year's total--the most since they won 41 games in '05.

Alvernia 6, Rutgers-Newark 4