Ft. Myers, Fla. (Mar. 5, 2017) - Alvernia University (3-0) opened its spring break trip with a pair of wins over Elms College (0-5) Sunday afternoon in non-conference baseball action at the Lee County Player Development Complex.

Alvernia got a strong six innings from John Catchmark--one run on five hits with seven strikeouts--in a 15-1 win in the opener then scored single runs in consecutive innings in a 3-1 win in support of Tom Malik in game two.

Nathan Sides and Cameron Coons had three RBIs each in game one, and freshman Jarrad Graver threw an impressive 1-2-3 inning in the seventh with three straight strikeouts in his collegiate debut.

Coons drove in a game-tying run in the third inning of game two, and Kyle Gaynor and Alex Salesky added RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings.  Thomas Malik scattered seven innings in five innings and turned the ball over to Zack Landy and Antonio Baglivo who nailed down the win.

Ben Dubas drove in a run for the Crusaders in the top half of the first inning in game one, but Elms tied the game with a run in the bottom of the second on three walks and an error.

Alvernia batted round in the fourth plating five runs on four hits with an error.  The Blazers had a runner thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the fourth then the Crusaders put the game out of reach with eight runs in the fifth.  Alvernia drew six walks in the inning and had a pair of ripped doubles.  Coons blasted a bases-clearning double to the fence against a strong wind then Dubas drove in Coons with a ground rule double to right.

The teams combined for just one more base hit over the final two and a half innings--a single by Connor Boyle.

Elms scored the first run of game two in the second inning.  After a pair of bloop singles down the line in right, leadoff batter Alex Hoss singled to the game in right center to plate a run.

The Blazers looked to build on their lead in the third opening the inning with a double and a single to put runners at the corners with no one out, but the Crusaders defense did a terrific job to escape the threat.  Malik coaxed a sharp grounder to third where Kyle Gaynor was able to field, look the runner back to third, and still start the around-the-horn double play.  Malik then ended the inning with a ground ball to short.

Franco Esposito was hit by a pitch with two out in the bottom of the third, took second on a wild pitch, then scored with Coons went with the outside pitch for a run-scoring single to right.  Salesky walked to open the fourth, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Gaynor's single to center.  Zach Zellers pinch ran for Esposito with no one out in the fifth, moved up to third on a single from Coons then scored on the Salesky single.

Alvernia continues the spring break on Monday with a single game against Dominican at noon.

Alvernia 15, Elms 1 (Game One)
Alvernia 3, Elms 1 (Game Two)