CHESTER, Pa. – The Arcadia University baseball team put up eight runs in the second inning alone and never looked back on its way to a 27-5 MAC Commonwealth victory at Widener University Friday to open a three-game conference set. The will meet again tomorrow for a MAC Commonwealth doubleheader at Arcadia's Erny Field.
 
FOR THE RECORD: The Knights improved to 21-7 for the season and moved into a tie for place in the MAC Commonwealth standings after running their conference mark to 10-3. 11th-ranked Alvernia, which was idle today, is also 10-3 in conference games. The Pride, who are the reigning conference champion, fell to 19-8 overall and 9-4 in league action.
 
IN THE POLLS: Both teams are receiving votes in this week's American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Poll. Widener is also receiving votes in the current D3Baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll. Alvernia is ranked No. 11 in the nation in both polls. 

SEVEN STRAIGHT WINS: The Knights' current winning streak is now a season-high seven games, which is tied for the second-longest winning streak in program history; the all-time record of nine consecutive wins was achieved in 2004 and 2007. Arcadia has scored in double digits in five of its last seven wins, and has outscored opponents 101-25 during this stretch.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Widener got out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Bob Barnett scored from second on Greg McDonough's single to center, but that proved to be its only lead of the game as Arcadia pushed eight runs across in the top of the second to take the lead for good. Junior Drew Coisson scored what would be the game-winning run on senior Jordan Draude's sacrifice fly, while the final two runs of the frame scored on freshman Phil Pierfy's double to center field.
 
The Pride got two runs back in the bottom of the second on RBI-singles from Kyle Lowery and Barnett, but they would manage just two runs the rest of the way. The Knights pulled away with a six-run sixth before plating three runs in the seventh, four runs in the eight and five runs in the ninth. Coisson doubled in two runs in the seventh, while Draude and senior Justin Chasmar both launched a two-run homer in the eighth.
 
ON THE HILL: Senior Joseph Warren improved to 5-0 after giving up one run on three hits with six strikeouts in his four innings of relief. Junior Jake Lloyd allowed three runs on five hits with five Ks over the first four innings. Kyle McKelvey (4-2) took the loss for Widener after allowing seven runs on seven hits and a walk in his 1.2 innings of work. As a staff, the Pride allowed 27 runs (25 earned) on 27 hits and nine walks in the game.
 
ARCADIA AT BAT: Sophomore Nick Ponente went 5 for 7 with four RBI and three runs scored, while junior Drew Coisson was 3 for 5 with a double, a triple, four RBI and three runs scored. Pierfy was 4 for 4 on the day with a double, three RBI and three runs scored, and sophomore Sean Carew went 2 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and two runs driven in. Draude finished 1 for 4 with a two-run homer, three RBI and two runs scored, while Chasmar was 1 for 5 with a two-run bomb, and scored five runs.
 
DRAUDE CLIMBING HOME RUN LIST: Draude smacked his seventh homer of the season, putting him in sole possession of second on the program's single season list and just one back of the program-mark of eight dingers hit by Bart Hotchkin in 2001. He is now tied with Arcadia Athletic Hall of Fame inductee John Connell for third on the career home run list with 13, and is now two back of Hotchkin's career-record 15 long balls.
 
WIDENER AT BAT: Barnett was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored; he had the only multi-hit game for the Pride. Lowerey was 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored.