The Moravian College baseball team closed out its regular season with a 7-5, 10-inning win at The Catholic University of America Sunday afternoon to win its 14th straight game and reach the 30-win plateau for the first time in school history.
The Greyhounds, now 30-7 this season, will host the 2011 Landmark Conference Tournament at Gillespie Field beginning on Saturday, May 7th with Moravian taking on fourth seed Susquehanna University at 12:30 p.m. in the first game of the tournament.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Catcher Chris McCloud started the scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly while outfielder Tommy Bowles hit an RBI single. Third baseman Troy Langway also had an RBI single for Catholic while the final two Cardinal runs scored on Moravian errors.
Neither team would score until the top of the eighth inning when the Greyhounds scored five times to tie the contest. Senior designated hitter Matt Kensecki led off with a single and scored on an error while freshman second baseman Edwin Balcarcel had an RBI grounder to score freshman first baseman Joshua Barfield. Freshman outfielder Joseph Connell, pictured at top right, had an RBI bases loaded walk while freshman catcher Matthew Gutkes tied the game with a two-RBI single scoring Balcarcel and senior outfielder Jacob Millen.
The Greyhounds would score twice in the top of the tenth inning to break the 5-5 tie. Connell singled with one out and Gutkes followed with a two-run homer, his first collegiate home run.
Each team had eight hits in the game with Gutkes going two-for-three with four RBIs. First baseman Dave Grear and catcher Mark Kalokitis were each two-for-two for Catholic while designated hitter AJ Ventura was two-for-four.
Freshman Tommy Mariano earned his first collegiate win of the season in relief for Moravian, allowing a hit and striking out three batters in three innings of action. Junior Kyle Longernecker earned his ninth save the season, giving up two hits and striking out one batter in an inning of work. Freshman Jason Jamula started on the mound for the Greyhounds and allowed five runs, three earned, on three hits and three walks in an inning of action. Freshman Christopher Soltys pitched five innings and gave up two hits and striking out three batters.
Catholic used eight pitchers in the game with Adam Schroth taking the loss after allowing two runs on four hits and one walk to go with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings of action.
