The Moravian College baseball team swept a Landmark Conference doubleheader at Drew University, 9-0 and 4-2, Friday to extend its winning streak to nine games as the Greyhounds took a two-game lead with four games remaining in the Landmark Conference season as The University of Scranton defeated The Catholic University of America twice on Friday. The win in the first game also clinched Moravian's third straight trip to the Landmark Conference Tournament, which begins on May 7th at the top seed.
In the opener, junior Brendan Close, pictured at right, tossed his school record fourth shutout of the season and improved to 9-0, also a school record, with a four-hit shutout. Close had seven strikeouts to extend his school record to 85 for this year, and he did not allow a walk in the game for the fifth time this season while lowering his season ERA to 0.55. Close is now 21-3 in his career with seven shutouts and 217 strikeouts, all school marks.
The Greyhounds gave Close all of the offense he needed before he even took the mound with two runs in the top of the first inning. Junior shortstop Dave Zubia was hit by a pitch to start the game, and he scored on an RBI single from junior first baseman Kevin O'Keefe. O'Keefe would eventually cross the plate on an error on a ground ball hit by senior second baseman Jake Schweitzer.
Moravian added six runs in the top of the fourth inning to extend its lead to 8-0. Freshman outfielder Joseph Connell led off with a double and scored on an RBI single from Dave Zubia. O'Keefe added another RBI single to plate Dave Zubia while senior outfielder Mike Zubia had an RBI single to score senior outfielder Jason Huber, who had singled. Senior designated hitter Jacob Millen added an RBI single that pushed O'Keefe home while Schweitzer connected on an RBI sacrifice fly to score Mike Zubia. Senior catcher Blake Shortall finished the inning with an RBI single to plate Millen.
The Greyhounds finished the scoring with a run in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single from Mike Zubia that scored Dave Zubia, who had reached on an error to start the stanza.
Moravian had a 15-4 advantage in hits in the first game with O'Keefe, pictured at left, going three-for-four with two RBIs and two runs. Mike Zubia was three-for-five with a pair of RBIs while Millen was two-for-three. Shortall was two-for-four for the Greyhounds while Huber finished the game two-for-five. Dave Zubia was one-for-four but scored three runs for Moravian. Designated hitter Tom Murray was two-for-three for the Rangers.
Tom Koonz took the loss for Drew, allowing eight runs, seven earned, on 12 hits and two walks to go with one strikeout in four innings of action. Ben Lynch tossed the final three innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and one strikeout.
In the second contest, the Greyhounds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
O'Keefe started a two-out rally by being hit by a pitch. Mike Zubia hit a single, and after a double steal, O'Keefe scored on an error on a ground ball hit by junior designated hitter Gregg Steinman. Junior catcher Austin Rock drew a walk to load the bases before senior third baseman Jon Baltz connected on a two-RBI single to score Mike Zubia and Steinman.
Moravian would extend its lead to 4-0 with a run in the top of the fourth inning when Schweitzer, who had reached on a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning, scored on an RBI single from Dave Zubia.
Drew would score its first run of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single from outfielder Drew Orbergfell. The Rangers then added another run in the bottom of the seventh when second baseman Michael Bodden scored on a Greyhound error.
The Rangers had a 9-7 edge in hits n the second game with outfielder Streven DeBonis and first baseman Benny Lyman each going two-for-four. Huber was two-for-four to lead the Greyhounds while Baltz, pictured at right, was one-for-three with two RBIs.
Moravian freshman Jonathan Harasin improved to 6-1 in his debut season, allowing a run on eight hits and two walks to go with six strikeouts in six innings of action. Junior Kyle Longernecker picked up his seventh save of the year for the Greyhounds after giving up an unearned run on a hit and two strikeouts in the final inning.
Evan Martens took the loss for Drew after allowing four unearned runs on seven hits and three walks to go with a pair of strikeouts.
