Senior shortstop Matthew Pezzato drew a bases loaded, RBI walk in the bottom of the 11th inning to help lead the Moravian College baseball team to an 8-7, 11-inning non-conference win over Neumann University at Gillespie Field Wednesday afternoon.
For the Greyhounds, it was their ninth straight win at home, and the squad has won 22 of its last 23 games at Gillespie Field.
Moravian jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Senior outfielder Jason Huber drew a walk to start the inning, and senior second baseman Jake Schweitzer also walked. Junior first baseman Kevin O'Keefe then hit an RBI double off the wall in centerfield to score Huber before senior outfielder Mike Zubia connected on a two RBI single pushing Schweitzer and O'Keefe across the plate.
The Knights would get a run in the top of the second inning on an RBI single by freshman designated hitter Bobby McCormick, and Neumann cuts Moravian's lead to 3-2 with a run in the top of the third inning on a triple from senior third baseman Mathieu Vallieres and an RBI sacrifice fly from senior first baseman Matt Grossi.
The Greyhounds would get a run in the bottom half of the third to up their lead to 4-2. Zubia led off the inning with a single, and he scored on an RBI double from junior catcher Austin Rock.
Neumann pulled within a run again in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single from junior outfielder Derrek Etsell to score Vallieres.
Moravian would get that run back in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore outfielder Rocco Del Priore singled with one out and scored on a two-out RBI single from Schweitzer.
The Greyhounds extended their lead to 7-3 with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman second baseman Edwin Balcarcel was hit by a pitch with two outs, and O'Keefe had a single to reach base. Zubia, pictured at left, would connect on a two-RBI double to score Balcarcel and O'Keefe.
Moravian would need those runs as Neumann scored four times in the top half of the ninth to tie the game at 7-7. Vallieres got things started with a walk, and he scored on an RBI single from sophomore outfielder Bill Pace. Etsell had an RBI single to score Grossi while Pace came across the plate on an RBI sacrifice fly in foul territory by junior shortstop Kevin Flannigan. Etsell scored the tying run on an RBI sacrifice fly from sophomore catcher Joey Armata.
The Knights would get a runner to third base in the top of the 11th but were unable to score.
In the bottom of the 11th for the Greyhounds, junior catcher Blake Shortall hit a one-out single and moved to third on a ground ball hit by freshman pinch hitter Joshua Barfield that had a throwing error. After freshman Joseph Connell came on to pinch run for Shortall, senior third baseman Jon Baltz was intentionally walked to load the bases for Pezzato. After starting with a 0-2 count, Pezzato took four straight balls for the walk-off walk.
Neumann finished the game with a 14-13 edge in hits with Etsell going three-for-six with two RBIs and two runs. Vallieres, Flannigan and Armata were all two-for-five for the Knights with Vallieres scoring three times. Zubia was three-for-six with four RBIs and a pair of runs to lead Moravian while O'Keefe, pictured at right, was two-for-six with two runs, and O'Keefe became the third player in school history to reach 150 career hits. Del Priore had a two-for-five performance of the Greyhounds while senior designated hitter Jacob Millen was two-for-two.
Moravian used four pitchers in the game with sophomore Frank Trautz earning his second win of the season with two innings of relief action that including a hit. Freshman Robert Solano started for the Greyhounds and gave up three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out eight while freshman Evan Bray tossed 1 2/3 innings with two hits and two strikeouts.
Junior Kyle Longernecker pitched 1 1/3 innings with four runs, three earned, on three hits and a walk to go with one strikeout.
Neumann used seven pitcher in the contest with senior Sean Quigley suffering the loss after giving up an unearned run on a hit and three walks to go with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings of work.
