BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Mar. 14, 2012) - On Wednesday afternoon Alvernia University (7-5-1) clinched its first home victory of the season by defeating Morovian College (7-6) by a score of 11-2 at Angelica Park in non-conference baseball action. Alvernia was led by freshman starting pitcher Steve Price (Barto, Pa./Boyertown) and junior catcher Kevin Bailey (Fallston, Md./Fallston).

After falling behind by two runs in the second inning Alvernia's offense erupted for 11 unanswered runs on 16 base hits.

Alvernia responded to the Moravain lead in the second when freshman shortstop Richie Ricciardi (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) got hit by a pitch and scored on a Bailey single to right that was bobbled by the right fielder.

Senior third baseman Aaron Carman (Robesonia, Pa./Conrad Weiser) reached on an error and was driven in by a triple off the bat of outfielder Cody Younker (Leesport, Pa./Schuylkill Valley). Leon Stimpson (Philadelphia, Pa./Malvern Prep) then drove him in with a sacrifice fly to push the Crusader lead to 4-2 after two innings.

Alvernia never looked back after taking the lead. Although Moravian starter, Kevin O'Keefe held the Crusaders hitless through the fourth and fifth innings, Alvernia tagged the Greyhound bullpen for six additional runs.

Bailey, who finished 4-5 with 3 runs and two RBIs said, "I've been hitting the ball well lately in games and practice after starting slow and today I just felt in the zone. We needed this win after a rough Florida  trip." Bailey tripled off the wall in the deepest part of the park and fell a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

Stimpson also helped out by going 3-5 with two RBIs.  Price had a dominant outing for the Crusaders going seven strong innings while surrendering just two runs on six hits. Price hit his spots all afternoon and his pitches seemed to jump out of his hand.

"Price is only a freshman but his stuff is phenomenal he can throw all his pitches for strikes and has great demeanor out there. Today he proved it. Its only gona get better as he gets older", said Bailey who recieved all seven innings of Price's home debut. The freshman's strike out to walk ratio
was 3:1.

Freshman second baseman Dustin Stuck (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra), a late-game defensive replacement, helped out his pitcher by making a tremendous diving stop on a hard ground ball up the middle and gunning out the Moravian batter.

In the eighth inning Price turned it over to the bullpen who took care of the rest. Cody Smith (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic) and Kevin Becker-Menditto (Frederick, Md./Walkersville) slammed the door to push the team to a record of 7-5-1.

The Crusaders are back in action Friday when they host conference rival Arcadia at home.

Alvernia 11, Moravian 2