Moosic, Pa. (5/20/16) – Freshman Tyler Hopman tossed a complete game to help the Kean University baseball survive in the elimination bracket with an 11-5 win over Haverford College on Friday.
With the win the Cougars will now face Penn State Berks in the late game this evening.
Hopman improved to 6-1 on the season allowing four earned runs with three strikeouts and two walks.
Haverford (28-14) scored on their first opportunity as Sam Partee lofted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to score Ben Verducci who reached on a one-out single.
Trailing 1-0, Kean responded quickly and plated five runs with four hits, a walk and the benefit of an error. Senior Chris Amato helped himself with a single and moved into scoring position with two stolen bases. Classmate Ryan Kelley walked and fellow senior Sal Taormina tied things up with a single in the hole. Senior Andy Lopez quickly gave Kean the lead with a single up the middle and Taormina later scored after a fielding miscue to make it 3-1. Rookie Shayne Fontana lined a double over a crisscrossing centerfielder to plate two for a 5-1 lead after one inning of play.
The Fords chipped away with a two out RBI single from Ethan Lee-Tyson for a 5-2 score.
The Cougars got the run back in their half of the second as Tyler Heisch reached on a single and moved to second on a balk and third on a groundout. Kelley picked up an RBI with a bloop single over a drawn in infield for the 6-2 advantage.
Lee-Tyson cut the deficit to three in the top of the fourth as he lofted a sac fly.
Kean added to their lead in the fourth as catcher Brian Cole was hit to start the inning. A single from Heisch (pictured left) and a sacrifice from Amato put two runners in scoring position setting up Kelley who recorded an RBI with a sac fly. Heisch rounded out the scoring in the inning by advancing on a balk for an 8-3 lead after four.
In the offensive battle, Haverford added two in the top of the sixth with a ground-rule double from Ben Furlong and an RBI single from Lee-Tyson.
The Cougars stretched the lead to four with a bases-loaded balk as Kelley crossed the plate after reaching on an error.
Kead added insurance in the eighth as Kelley led off the inning with a triple and came around to score on a wild pitch. Frank Urso rounded out the scoring with an RBI double later in the frame.
Offensively the two teams combined for 28 hits as six Cougars registered multi-hits. Heisch and Urso both collected three hits.
