Keystone Holds Off Etown,
10-8
LAKEWOOD, N.J. (5/14/09) - Junior Eric
Groff (Lebanon, N.J.) went 4-for-5 with four runs scored,
three runs batted in and three stolen bases and junior Ryan
Smyth (River Edge, N.J.) hit a grand slam as Keystone
College defeated Elizabethtown College, 10-8, in a winner's bracket
game at the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional at FirstEnergy
Park on Thursday night.
The second-seeded Giants (39-4), who won their 27th consecutive
game, finished with 15 hits as a team and advance to face
top-seeded Kean University in a winners' bracket final on Friday at
4:30 p.m. #6 Elizabethtown (28-14), which saw a five-game
postseason win streak come to an end, battles #8 Penn State Berks
in an elimination game on Friday at 1:15 p.m.
Keystone jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as
Groff hit his 13th home run of the season to deep right field.
The Giants added three runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead on
an RBI single by Groff and a two-run single by senior Ben
Fish (Muncy, Pa.). The Blue Jays got on the board with two
runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by junior Brian
Kiernan (Garden City, N.Y.) and sophomore Anthony Heaps
(Landenberg, Pa.).
Keystone came back with a run in the fifth on an RBI single by
Fish, but Elizabethtown responded in the bottom of the inning as
senior Adam Sheibley (Landisberg, Pa.) tripled and scored
on a single by junior Rodney Francis (Pottstown, Pa.) to
pull within 5-3.
In the sixth, Groff singled for his third run batted in of the
game to give Keystone a 6-3 lead, and two batters later Smyth
hammered his eighth home run over the fence in deep left-center to
boost the Giant lead to 10-3.
Elizabethtown tacked on a run in the seventh on a groundout by
senior Sam Heaps (Landenberg, Pa.) and two more in the
eighth on a dropped fly ball and an RBI double by Sheibley to cut
the Giant lead to 10-6.
The Blue Jays had the tying run on deck in the bottom of the
ninth after a RBI single by junior Ben Yeager (Pottstown,
Pa.) and a RBI fielder's choice by Anthony Heaps, however
senior reliever Brett Repard (Hughesville, Pa.)
forced a fly ball for the final out of the game to advance the
Giants.
Fish went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while senior Kyle
Conrad (Whitehall, Pa.) finished 2-for-5 with a pair of
runs scored for the Giants. Junior Sean Murphy
(Philadelphia, Pa.) improved to 9-0 as he allowed two
earned runs on 10 hits over eight innings while striking out eight
to earn the victory for Keystone.
Five players finished with a multi-hit game for the Blue Jays,
as Anthony Heaps was 2-of-5 with two RBI and Kiernan had two hits,
two runs scored and one RBI.
