(Game 1) / (Game 2)
Widener clinched the top seed in Commonwealth Conference Tournament with Saturday's sweep of Messiah, 9-4 and 1-0, in Grantham, PA.
After defeating Messiah on Friday in dramatic fashion with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Pride went on the road to complete the season sweep of the Falcons with their program-best 16th conference win of the season.
With the victory, Widener (27-11, 16-5 CC) has won the regular season for the first time since 2010 and ties for the most wins in a season in the history of the program.
The second batter of the first game, freshman outfielder Bob Barnett (Glenolden, PA), hit a triple into right field to begin the day for the Pride. Senior first baseman Michael Riverso (Philadelphia, PA) would then walk, followed by a fielder's choice RBI from junior Matt Scherer (Havertown, PA) to drive home Barnett. After Scherer stole second base, freshman Nicholas Enos (Williamstown, NJ) singled to right field to bring home Scherer and take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Widener added two more runs in the second when freshman Michael Elfreth (Washington Twp, NJ) hit a single into center field that drove home junior Paul Shepherd (Secane, PA) and senior Sam Christie (Upper Darby, PA). Freshman second baseman Justin Healey (Ocean City, NJ) then scored in the fourth inning on a passed ball, and Barnett again in the fifth inning off a second RBI from Scherer. Scherer ranks second on the team with 24 RBIs and is a perfect 15-of-15 on stolen base attempts this season.
On the mound, sophomore Joe Santone (Blackwood, NJ) pitched six innings to improve to 5-3 on the season after striking out six batters and allowing two runs.
The Pride secured the first game with three runs in the seventh inning highlighted by a two-run single from Christie. Messiah scored two runs in the bottom of the inning off of RBIs from Ethann Zimmerman and Jon Lapp, but it was not enough to overtake the Pride.
Senior pitcher Colin Weiss (Red Hill, PA) pitched a two-hit shutout in the second game of the doubleheader with one strikeout. Weiss improves to 6-0 on the year after allowing only one Falcon reach scoring position in seven innings on the mound.
At the plate, Widener lost the momentum from the first game, but were still able to come away with the victory. Elfreth singled to third base to begin the sixth inning, and advanced to second off a bunt from Barnett. Riverso then stepped up and hit an RBI single to center field to score the only run of the game.
Riverso finished the regular season with a conference-best .430 batting average and 38 RBIs. Riverso's 55 hits are tied for seventh in school history, and Elfreth's 59 place him in fifth.
Widener will play Lebanon Valley on Thursday at 4:00 pm in the opening round of the Commonwealth Conference Tournament in York, PA.
