Box Score
READING, Pa. – A four-run top of the second and a one-run top of the seventh would be all that the visiting Blue Jays of Elizabethtown College (13-15/6-7 Commonwealth) would need as they held off a late inning rally to hand baseball (7-20/3-10 Commonwealth) a 5-2 Commonwealth Conference loss Thursday afternoon on Kelchner Field.
The Blue Jays used a combined 10 hits, with only two of the five runs scored in the contest marked as earned. Wayne Leonard carried the Blue Jays through 7 1/3 innings to earn the victory, his third of the year. Todd Leister picked-up the save, his second of the year, after closing out the bottom of ninth.
Albright combined for eight hits in the contest, but it was not until the bottom of the eighth that they finally made their way around base paths. By then, Elizabethtown had five-run lead over the Lions.
The Lions first run of the day was the result of a
Jojo Fischer RBI single up the middle, which plated first baseman
Tom Canuso. Albright's second run would come from
Rob Mancinelli on an error by the second baseman, allowing Fischer to make his way home to make it just a 3-run ball game. Both runs were scored with only one out on the scoreboard.
After the second Albright run was scored, Elizabethtown turned to Vaclav Hasik to get the final two outs of the eighth, which he did. Knowing that they could not give-up any additional runs in the top half of the ninth the Lions defense led by
Matt Rehrig retired the final three batters in order.
Unfortunately, the bottom half of the ninth would be a mirror image of the top, as Leister retired the last three Albright batters in order.
Canuso and
Jon Raymond would both record doubles in the eighth, and would the end day 2-for-4 at the plate. Fischer's RBI single was his only hit of the afternoon, as the senior catcher went 1-for-4 with the RBI and run scored.
Nate Peiffer recorded back-to-back singles in the third and fifth innings, while
Collin Hecker picked-up his only hit of the day in the seventh.
Rehrig, despite the tough second inning was solid throughout his nine inning performance. Thursday's game marked the first time in his career that he pitched consecutive nine inning games. On the day the junior righty did not surrender a walk, and retired five Blue Jays.
Baseball returns to action tomorrow when they travel to Elizabethtown to take on the Blue Jays in a conference doubleheader. Start time is scheduled for noon.
