Game One Goes to E'town

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Friday, April 2, 2011-- The visiting Blue Jays of Elizabethtown College produced 17 runs while out-hitting Arcadia 23-13 in the opening game of the three-game Commonwealth Conference series Saturday afternoon at Erny Field, going on to win 17-9. The two teams close out the series today at Elizabethtown. Following a 7-1 win for E'town in the middle game of the series, Arcadia was about to spoil the Blue Jays hope for a series sweep, after jumping out to 4-1 lead after four, and still leading 5-4 to start the bottom of the seventh, E'town's Dillon Tagle delivered a two-run walk-off single to give his team a 6-5 come from behind win.

In Saturday's opener, Arcadia was led by sophomore Jerry Smith who drove in two runs batting 4-for-5 all for extra bases. Starter Jason Heryla '11 got the call, looking for his first win of the season but took the loss through three innings of work. The Knights committed 6 errors in the field. Scoring opened in the second inning with both teams platting two runs apiece in the frame. The scored stood deadlocked at 2-2 until E'town caught fire in the top of the fourth and forced Arcadia to go to their bullpen with David Jacobs '14 in relief of Heryla after the Blue Jays opened the inning with five runs and no outs away. By the time the Knights got out of the inning, E'town had scored seven runs on six hits with two Arcadia errors for a 12-2 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, an RBI single to left from sophomore Nick Petroski and one from junior Marc Gottfied hit into centerfield set the stage for a two-run double from Jerry Smith as the Knights strategized a comeback. Now a 12-6 E'town lead, the Knights looked to limit any further damage caused by the Jays' bats, escaping the fifth after yielding just one run while scoring one of their own in the bottom of five complements of some crafty base running from junior Kyle Jackson. Jackson singled to center to lead off the inning, stealing second and third before coming home on a ground out from Mike McElhatton '12.

With the score 13-7, the Blue Jays benefitted from another multiple-run inning making Arcadia's comeback attempt seem daunting. E'town connected for six hits in the inning, scoring four runs as the Knights made three errors in the field and found themselves down by ten with three at-bats remaining. Only able to muster a run in the sixth, the Knights went to their bullpen again, giving the ball to junior Adam Planamento, who held E'town scoreless the rest of the way, stranding six E'town base runners. However, McElhatton's RBI to left center would be the final run scored as the Knights settled for 17-9 defeat. McElhatton finished the day 2-5 with one scored and one RBI, Petroski going 1-2 with one scored and two batted in and Gottfried 2-5 with one scored and one RBI.

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