Brendan O'Brien's Two-Run Double Rallies Baseball to 7-5 Win Over Neumann

(box score)

Senior Brendan O'Brien (Coatesville, PA) lined a go-ahead, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning for Widener, which came from behind for a 7-5 triumph over Neumann.

With two outs in the eighth and Widener down 5-4, sophomore Matt Scherer (Havertown, PA) singled, stole second and scored on a bloop single from junior Kyle Summers (Mohnton, PA) for a tie game. After junior Colin Weiss (Red Hill, PA) singled, O'Brien greeted reliever Erik Klimoff with a shot to left-center field to score two runs for a 7-5 Pride lead.

It was enough for Orefield, PA senior Nicholas Moeltner (2-1), who pitched the final two innings and permitted only one hit and one walk over eight batters faced.

Freshman Shawn Barton (Minersville, PA) again pitched great, but took a no-decision for Widener (5-6) after yielding three runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings. Weiss and freshman Alec O'Dell (Edgewood, MD) each collected two hits and senior Dennis Hocker (Coral Springs, FL) had one to extend his hitting streak to five games.

Tyler Drinkard had three doubles, with Bill Pace and Matt Sheneman getting two hits apiece for the Knights (9-3), who entered the contest receiving votes in the latest D3Baseball.com Top 25 Poll. Jake Yarber (1-1) gave up three runs and three hits over 2/3 of an inning.

Widener scored three times in the third inning to grab a 3-1 lead. Senior Matt Hone (Newtown, PA) hit a fielder's choice that scored O'Brien and a throwing error by shortstop Buddy Elgin allowed O'Dell to cross home. Sophomore Marc Noyalis (Dallas, PA) added an RBI single later in the frame.

The Knights plated four runs in the seventh on just one hit to take a 5-3 lead. Will Flores was hit by a pitch, Pace walked and Drinkard reached on a throwing error to load the bases. Dave Kalash promptly unloaded them with a grand slam that hit the top of the fence in right field and bounced into Neumann's bullpen.

The Pride got one run back in the bottom of the frame on Hocker's RBI single for a 5-4 deficit.

Widener travels to Lebanon Valley on Wednesday for a rescheduled Commonwealth Conference doubleheader, starting at 1:00 pm in Annville, PA. Its originally scheduled game Wednesday against Keystone has been postponed.

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