Reading, Pa. (March 17, 2018) - Alvernia University (10-3) earned wins in the first two games of a three game series against crosstown rival Albright College (5-4) to open up in MAC Commonwealth baseball schedule on Saturday afternoon at Alvernia.
Alvernia took game one 5-4 in extra innings, and used a six run first inning in game two to take an 8-1 win.
In game one of the afternoon, Albright got on the board first with an RBI double to go up 1-0.
The Golden Wolves answered with a one run inning of their own in the bottom of the first with a
Matt Briner single to left field to score
Hunter Hart.
Alvernia entered the bottom of the fourth down 3-1 before a three run inning gave the Golden Wolves the lead.
Ben Dubas started off the inning with a double to right field. In the next at bat,
Colin Rieger hit a double to left to advance Dubas to third and an error by Albright brought Dubas in. In the third at bat of the inning,
Marcus Celiano hammered a ball over the right field fence for a two run home run, giving Alvernia a 4-3 lead.
The Lions tied the game up at 4-4 in the top of the seventh. Alvernia was unable to score in the bottom of the seventh, sending the first game of the doubleheader to extras.
The Golden Wolves only needed one extra inning to finish the game. Nate Sides started the inning with a single up the middle and was advanced to second when Briner was hit by a pitch. Rieger then knocked a walk off single to left to score Sides and give Alvernia the 5-4 win.
Matt Brennan pitched one inning of relief and struck out two to collect his first career win.
In the second game of the day, the Lions got an early 1-0 lead with a leadoff homerun in the first at bat of the game.
Alvernia responded with a huge first inning of its own, scoring six on five hits. Briner scored Alvernia's first run of the inning with a single to score Rieger. Dubas drove in the second run with a single up the middle to score Sides.
Franco Esposito followed with a single to left to bring in Briner. With the bases loaded,
Dillon Dunne drove in three with a double to left center to cap off the six run inning.
Neither team would score again until Alvernia added two to its lead in the bottom of the sixth. Rieger blasted a triple to left center to score
Francisco Reyes, and Rieger was brought in on sacrifice hit from Sides.
Thomas Malik went six innings, allowing five hits and one run, to pick up his second win of the season.
Alvernia heads across town to Albright Sunday at 1:00 PM to close out the series.
Game 1: Alvernia 5, Albright 4 (8)
Game 2: Alvernia 8, Albright 1
