BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College baseball team improved to 8-6 after defeating Elizabethtown College in the final game of a Landmark Conference series, 6-4 on Monday afternoon at Gillespie Field.
"We needed as many conference wins this weekend after an 0-5 start," commented Head Coach Paul Engelhardt. "Etown is a good team and we weren't thinking sweep at the beginning but the guys kept battling yesterday and today coming from behind. That's what we need to see and what we were missing the first few games and hope we turned the corner with that."
Senior shortstop Colin Case went 3-for-4 on the day while senior right fielder Matt Hanson and sophomore center fielder Anthony Gaetaniello both went 2-for-4.
On the mound, freshman John Wiedmayer threw 6.2 innings with eight strikeouts as junior Brett Wagner came into close the game and after 2.1 innings he had two strikeouts and just one hit and one walk. Wagner is now 2-1 on the year.
Elizabethtown jumped out to a 2-0 lead after their first at bat. The Greyhounds would notch their first run at their first at bat. Starting things off was Case with a single up the middle. Junior first basemen Charles Savite hit an RBI double to left center scoring Case to cut the lead, 2-1.
Both teams went scoreless until the Hounds took the lead, 3-2, posting two runs in the home portion of the fourth inning. Savite would reach first on an error while senior third basemen Ryan Luke would advance Savite with a base hit to the shortstop. Senior designated hitter Chris Lansberry singled to centerfield scoring the tying run. Next up, senior left fielder Justin Pilchman laid down bunt in a squeeze play scoring Luke, making it 3-2.
After another two innings without a run crossing the plate, the Blue Jays tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh.
Moravian rallied answering with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh by starting the inning with a base hit up the middle by senior second basemen Alex Longernecker. Gaetaniello laid down a sacrifice bunt advancing Longernecker with Case following up with single through the left side. Hanson would put a bunt passed the pitcher scoring Longernecker with the tying run and advancing Case to second. After a wild pitch, the runners would be in scoring position for Pilchman who singled to center field scoring both runs to secure the 6-4 win.
The Blue and Grey return to action tomorrow in a non-conference rescheduled game against Montclair State University at Gillespie Field starting at 3:30 p.m.
