Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WEST LAWN, Pa. --- Widener University won the Commonwealth Conference baseball title with two victories over Elizabethtown College Saturday afternoon at Owls Field, winning 12-6 and 9-5 in the championship round.
The Pride (25-11 overall) won four games in two days after dropping their tournament opener, sweeping the Blue Jays (24-16) in the finals in a reversal of last year's tournament, when Elizabethtown battled back with four straight victories and took two from Widener in the championship round to earn the title.
Sean Saverio was named tournament Most Valuable Player after going 5-for-9 with two doubles, two home runs, six runs batted in and four runs scored in Saturday's two games.
Widener scored 11 runs in the first three innings to win game one and force the second game, then broke a 5-5 tie in the seventh on a two-run homer by Tom Connelly to win the nightcap and take the title.
In game one, Widener scored five in the first and three in both the second and third. Saverio hit a two-run homer and Colin Keelan hit a three-run shot in the top of the first, and Dan Sieracki added a three-run blast in the second.
The Blue Jays scored in the third on an RBI single by
Matt Vinagro and added three in the sixth on RBI singles by
Dillon Tagle and
Matt Reade and a sacrifice fly by
Ben Yeager. Elizabethtown pulled within 11-5 in the seventh on an RBI single by
Brian Kiernan, but Widener tacked on a run in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by Connelly. An error by Widener in the eighth allowed Elizabethtown to score the game's final run.
Jason Ferrie (8-2) pitched seven innings to earn the win for Widener, allowing 10 hits and five earned runs while striking out six.
Todd Leister (3-2) gave up five runs on three hits in the first inning to take the loss for Elizabethtown, which received six innings of one-run relief from
Wayne Leonard.
Saverio went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs for Widener in game one, while Alex Oliver finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and Connelly, Sieracki and Keelan had two hits apiece. Tagle and Reade each picked up three hits for the Blue Jays, who finished with 13 hits as a team.
In game two, Elizabethtown broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Yeager off Widener starter Dan Gross. A sacrifice fly by Tagle gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead in the fifth, but the Pride answered with four runs in the bottom half against Vinagro on a three-run homer by Saverio and an RBI single by Dennis Hocker.
The Blue Jays came right back with three runs in the top of the sixth to go ahead 5-4, scoring on a groundout by
Jake Hoffstein and singles by Vinagro and Kiernan. Widener knotted the game at 5-5 in the sixth on an RBI single by Oliver, but
Adam Hartzell came on out of the Elizabethtown bullpen to strand a runner at third.
In the decisive seventh, Sieracki led off by being hit by a pitch from Hartzell, and Connelly hit the next pitch over the fence in left to give Widener a 7-5 lead. The Pride tallied twice more in the eighth on an RBI double by Sieracki and a wild pitch, and Alex Gelegotis worked around two walks in the ninth to close out the game.
Elizabethtown finished with 13 hits in the game, as Vinagro went 3-for-5 with a run scored and
Anthony Heaps,
Steve Motika and Yeager all had two hits apiece.
For Widener, DeAngelis, Saverio and Connelly all finished with two hits in game two, as the Pride managed nine hits but drew seven walks. Vinagro walked six and gave up five hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings for Elizabethtown, while Gross allowed 12 hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings for Widener.
Joe Sessa (3-1) picked up the win for the Pride in game two with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Hartzell (4-4) took the loss after giving up two hits and two runs in 1/3 inning of relief.