PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Arcadia University baseball team dropped a tightly contested Commonwealth Conference contest with visiting Alvernia University Friday at Erny Field by a final count of 8-5. The Crusaders, who are ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA Regional Rankings, improved to 27-10 overall and 16-3 in conference play, while the Knights fell to 16-11-1 overall and 11-8 in league action.
 
This was the first of three games between the two teams, which will meet again tomorrow for a critical Commonwealth Conference doubleheader in Reading.
 
Today's loss, combined with Stevenson's loss to Albright and Messiah's win over Widener has created a three-way tie between the Knights, Falcons and Mustangs for third in the conference standings, with the Pride sitting just one game ahead in second. The top-four teams qualify for the conference tournament.
 
The game was tied at 2-2 heading into the top of the fourth, where Alvernia took the lead for good on Ben Dubas' single through the left side the plated Brok Martin. The lead grew to 4-2 the following inning on Dan George's RBI-single through the left side, but Arcadia countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth as junior George Pagan drove a single through the right side of the infield to score senior Justin Simpson to make it 4-3.
 
Alvernia pulled away with a three-run sixth on an RBI-double off the bat of Ben Sawyer and a two-RBI single from Chris Burns to left. Dubas drove in his second run of the game as he sent a double to right that pushed Richie Ricciardi home, giving the Crusaders an 8-4 through six and a half innings of play.
 
Arcadia had its chances to come back, but an RBI-single in the sixth and an RBI ground out in the eighth by sophomore Jordan Draude was not enough to spark yet another dramatic comeback for the Knights. Arcadia wound up leaving seven runners on base, and left two aboard in the second and sixth innings.
 
Ryan Sheekey improved to 7-2 on the hill for the Crusaders after allowing four runs on 10 hits while striking out five over six innings of work, while Kevin Becker-Menditt picked up his 13th save after tossing a scoreless ninth. Ricciardi was 3 for 6 with two extra base hits, two RBI and two runs scored, whiel Burns went 2 for 3 with a run scored and two driven in.
 
Senior Jason Goldberg fell to 4-2 after giving up seven runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts over his 5.1 innings of work. Simpson went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Draude went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI.