York, Pa. (May 4, 2017) – Junior
Ben Dubas crushed a grand slam down the line in right field in the seventh inning carrying top-seeded Alvernia University (27-11-2) to an 8-4 win over #4 Lebanon Valley College (20-17) in game one of the MAC Commonwealth Baseball Championships at PEOPLESBank Stadium.
LVC scored all four of its runs in the fifth inning—taking a 4-3 lead at the time.
Matt Briner tied the game with an infield single in the seventh a batter before the Dubas slam.
Nicholas Marotta threw a pair of scoreless innings in relief of Alvernia starter
John Catchmark to earn the win. Senior
Antonio Baglivo pitched the eighth and ninth to close the game.
Alvernia advances to the winners bracket final on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. where it will face the winner of the game between #2 Arcadia University and #3 Widener University. The tournament committee decided to postpone all of Friday's schedule based on the forecasted rains, so LVC will play in the first elimination game on Saturday morning at 11:00 vs. the loser of the Arcadia/Widener game.
Catchmark settled in right away in Thursday's opener retiring the side on 10 pitches in the top of the first, and the Alvernia offense started the scoring in the home half of the first.
Colin Rieger walked on four pitches and
Mike Cirilli reached on an error.
Nathan Sides moved the runners up to second and third and senior
Cameron Coons drove them both in with a hard hit single to left.
Catchmark got a double play ball to erase a runner in both the third and the fourth, and the Crusaders tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth.
Coons walked to open the inning and moved up on a sacrifice bunt from
Matt Briner. Dubas slashed a ball to third base that was thrown high across the diamond, allowing Coons to score easily from second.
LVC then posted four runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead.
Catchmark walked the first two batters before a sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out. Zac Edwards served a 0-1 pitch into left center to plate two, and after a great play by Cirilli in foul ground for the second out, Michael Puglisi hit one out to left center for a 4-3 lead.
Alvernia had a runner on in the fifth, but couldn't score, then loaded the bases with two outs on back-to-back walks in the sixth.
Dillon Dunne worked a full count fouling off three 2-strike pitches before flying out to Edwards in center.
Cirilli drew a one-out walk in the seventh and Sides followed with a single through the left side to put two on for Coons. The first curve ball from LVC starter Casey Wall bounced in the dirt behind Coons, and the LVC staff decided to pull Wall in favor of Eric Marrero.
Marrero walked Coons on three more pitches to load the bases. Briner followed with a sharply hit ball to the left side that LVC shortstop Chris DeClerico did well to keep on the infield allowing just the tying run. Dubas pummeled a loud strike with a long foul ball on his first swing, then took a ball before hitting the 1-1 offering well out down the line in right.
LVC managed 2-out singles in both the eighth and ninth innings against Baglivo, but he ended the threat both times on fly balls to center.
Coons finished the day 2-for-2 with two runs, two RBIs, and a pair of walks. Rieger was 2-for-4 with a run at the top of the lineup, and Dubas was also 2-for-4 with four RBIs.
#1 Alvernia 8, #4 Lebanon Valley 4
