Reading, Pa., Saturday, March 19, 2011-- Alvernia continued its hot streak on the field this weekend, taking a trio of games from Arcadia University in the conference opener for both teams. The Knights having just returned from their spring break travels to the south, kept things close with the Crusaders, however, were unable to pull out a victory falling 7-1 on Friday, and 8-1, and 9-6 Saturday afternoon.
On Friday Arcadia sent freshaman Aaron Benusis to the mound to try and slow down the Crusaders hot bats, which as a team are batting above .300 for the season. Benusis was deligient in his task, pitching a complete game however surrendered seven runs, six earned on 12 hits. On the opposing side, Alvernia pitcher Chuck Nicholas also went the distance, holding the Knights to just one run on three hits, while striking out 12. The Knights lone run came in the fifth inning off a RBI single from the bat of Marc Gottfried scoring Nick Petroski who reached on a walk the batter before.
In the opener of Saturday's double-header, Arcadia again found the Alvernia pitching to be troublesome, as they were held to only one run again on three hits, while striking out eight times. The Knights fell behind 3-0 after two innings of play before they would look to mount a comeback. In the top of the third inning Kyle Jackson got Arcadia going with a lead-off double, Nick Petroski would follow Jackson at the plate putting the ball in play and forcing the pitcher to make a error, scoring Jackson and cutting the deficit to 3-1. The Knights very next batter would reach on a single, moving Petroski to third with no out recorded in the inning. However, Arcadia's momentum would be cut short as the runner on first would be caught stealing and even a single by Gottfried on the next play couldn't advance the runner from third home. Alvernia pitching would shut it down from there, not allowing another hit by the Knights for the remainder of the opening contest.
Jason Heryla took the loss for the Knights, pitching six innings, giving up eight runs, seven earned on 13 hits. Heryla struck out one batter while walking three.
In the night cap, Arcadia would again fall behind 3-0 early and fight back to cut the lead to 3-1 after the top of the third inning. The Knights would continue to put one run on the board each of the next two innings, however were unable to keep Alvernia from answering back in the bottom half of the third, fourth, and fifth innings, watching the Crusaders lead swell to 9-3 heading into the top of the seventh and final inning. However on this afternoon, the Knights would show their fight as they have so often this season, not going quietly, scoring three runs in the top of the seventh to cut the Alvernia lead to 9-6, making the game very interesting.
Sophomore Brandon Martin would get things started for the Knights reaching on an error, putting the lead-off runner on base. Power hitter Jay Zehring would be next on deck and not about to let this RBI opportunity pass him by Zehring got a hold of the Crusader pitch sending it out of the park for a two-run homer, and confidence lift for the Knight attack. However, as seen in the earlier contests Alvernia would put the clamps down again, as the Knights would only be able to muster up one more run in its attempt for late-inning heroics, and take the finale 9-6.
Adam Planamento took the loss in game two, in five innings of work he gave up eight earned runs on eleven hits, while striking out three.
With the weekend series loss, Arcadia falls to 0-11 on the season and 0-3 in Commonwealth Conference play. The Knights will return to action Tuesday when they travel to Madison, N.J. to take on the Rangers of Drew University. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
