Reading, Pa (April 21, 2023) - Alvernia University (22-12, 13-6) scored four runs in the first inning en route to a 6-4 victory over Stevenson University (17-14, 10-9) in game one of a MAC Commonwealth baseball series Friday afternoon at Alvernia. 

Alvernia started the afternoon by honoring Sports Performance Coach Nick Hurff in the team's annual Salute to Service game. Hurff served eight years in the United States Army and kicked the afternoon off by throwing out the first pitch. 

The Golden Wolves put up a four spot in the bottom of the first and scored runs in the third and fourth innings. The Mustangs tallied two in the fourth, one in the fifth and one in the eighth but it was not enough to knock off Alvernia. 

Thomas Faggioni led off the bottom of the first inning with a double down the left field line, Joe Glass followed Faggioni with an RBI single up the middle and gave the Golden Wolves an early 1-0 lead. Jason Kelly then ripped an RBI single down the left field line which scored Glass and made it a 2-0 ballgame. After Kelly stole second, the Golden Wolves made it a four run game thanks to a two RBI single up the middle off the bat of Jason Lind to make it 4-0 Alvernia. 

Alvernia extended its lead to 5-0 when Zach Rogacki tallied his sixth home run of the season when he belted a solo shot to right field to give the Golden Wolves a five run advantage. 

Stevenson grabbed two runs back in the top half of the fourth with back to back RBI groundouts by Nick Tamberino and Jonathan Brandt to cut the Alvernia lead to 5-2. 

The Golden Wolves responded with a run of their own in the bottom half when Glass tallied his second RBI of the day with a single through the left side that scored Brandon Smith and made it a 6-2 ballgame. 

The Mustangs tallied one in the fifth inning when Alex Russo recorded a sacrifice fly to left field to score Trent Smoot and cut the deficit to three, 6-3. 

Both teams held each other scoreless over the next two innings until Stevenson grabbed one more back in the eighth with an RBI single to right field by Amani Jones to make it a two run ballgame, 6-4. 

Matt Mays came on in relief for the Golden Wolves in the top half of the ninth and shut the Mustangs down to secure the 6-4 win in game one of the MAC Commonwealth series. 

Jake Umans started on the hill for Alvernia and got the win, Josh Krieder and Shayne Orstrowski came on in relief and Mays came on to close it out and is credited with the save. 

Glass led the Golden Wolves with two RBIs on two hits and scored a run, Lind also tallied two RBIs and Rogacki and Kelly also drove in runs. Faggioni recorded two hits and tallied five putouts in right field including a diving catch and two catches in foul territory against the right field fence.

Alvernia is back in action Sunday when they travel to Stevenson for games two and three of the the series with the Mustangs. First pitch on Sunday is set for 12:00 PM.