(box score)
Senior Alex Oliver (Lebanon, NJ) went 4-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs, lifting Widener to a 12-3 Commonwealth Conference win over Elizabethtown in the rubber match in Elizabethtown, PA.
Elizabethtown scored a run in each of the first two innings, and starting pitcher Matt Ruth stymied the Widener offense early on, holding it scoreless for the first four frames.
Widener finally broke through in the fifth when sophomore Dennis Hocker (Coral Springs, FL) led off the inning with a home run to left. But that would be the only run Ruth would allow through six.
Widener junior starting pitcher Rick Kazigian (West Chester, PA) settled down after the second inning and kept the Pride in the game. He yielded just three hits and one walk, allowing no runs from the third through the sixth.
With the Blue Jays clinging to a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh, Widener put the leadoff man in scoring position when Hocker reached on an error and advanced to second. After a strike out, senior Tom Mahoney (Norristown, PA) was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. But senior Tom DeAngelis (Pottstown, PA) grounded into a fielder's choice to leave Widener with runners at the corners and two outs. Oliver followed with a clutch two-out, RBI single down the left field line to tie the game, and each of the next three Widener hitters delivered RBI singles, leading to four more runs and a 6-2 Widener lead. All five runs in the inning were unearned.
Oliver came through once again in the eighth, driving an RBI double down the right field line for his fourth hit of the game.
Elizabethtown got one back in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single to right from Tyler Clark to cut its deficit to 7-3, but were unable to cross the plate again.
Junior Dan Sieracki (Cherry Hill, NJ) opened another five-run inning for Widener in the ninth, leading off the inning with a home run to center. Sophomore Max McCarthy (Deptford, NJ) and Mahoney each added RBI doubles in the frame, and DeAngelis capped the scoring with a two-run homer to left, giving the Pride (15-6, 4-2 CC) 11 runs over the last three innings of the contest.
Kazigian (2-3) won his second straight conference start. He struck out six, allowing just three earned runs over 7 2/3 innings. The first four hitters in the Widener order, DeAngelis, Oliver, junior Sean Saverio (Horsham, PA) and Sieracki, all combined to go 10-for-18 with seven runs scored and seven RBIs.
Ruth (1-1) struck out eight, allowing just one earned run over 6 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays (6-9, 1-2 CC). Kyle Gable and Anthony Heaps finished with two hits apiece.
Widener on Wednesday hosts Washington (MD) in non-conference action at 3:30 pm.
