BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The second seeded Moravian College baseball team won the opening game, 3-2, but third seed Elizabethtown College rebounded to take the second contest, 7-4, on the opening day of the Landmark Conference Semifinals at Gillespie Field in Bethlehem Saturday.
The Landmark Conference switched this spring from a double-elimination tournament to a pair of best-of-three semifinals series at the top two seeds and then a best-of-three championship series at the highest remaining seed on May 8-9.
Moravian and Elizabethtown will return to Gillespie Field on Sunday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m. for the final game of the series. The winner will advance to the championship round.
The other semifinal series will be going to the if necessary game with top seed The University of Scranton and fourth seed The Catholic University of America splitting their games Saturday with Catholic winning the opener, 7-1, and Scranton taking the nightcap, 13-11 in 10 innings.
The Greyhounds had nine hits in the opener versus Elizabethtown with senior shortstop Colin Case, senior right fielder Matt Hanson and junior first baseman Charles Savite each going 2-for-4.
Freshman Dan Morrin improved to 5-1 on the mound for the Blue & Grey, allowing two runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out five batters in his fourth complete game of the season.
Moravian jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Case reached on an infield single to start the game, and he moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by senior designated hitter Ryan Luke. Hanson followed with an RBI double to left center to score Case.
The Hounds extended the lead to 2-0 with a single run on the home half of the third inning. Sophomore center fielder Anthony Gaetaniello led off with an infield single, and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Case. Luke ripped a 1-0 pitch just inside the third base bag that rolled into the corner for an RBI ground rule double scoring Gaetaniello.
Elizabethtown tied the contest with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth. Case connected on his team-leading fifth triple of the season and the ninth of his career. Luke put down a bunt attempt towards first base that the Blue Jays fielded and threw home but Case beat the throw to put Moravian back in front.
Moravian had 12 hits in the second game with Luke, Hanson, Savite, senior left fielder Justin Pilchman and senior second baseman Alex Longernecker each collecting two hits.
The Blue Jays took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in the second contest.
Moravian answered with a run in the bottom half of the first. Case led off with a single up the middle, and he moved to third on a one-out infield single by Hanson. Savite followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to score Case.
The Greyhounds took a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Luke hit a one-out infield single, and Hanson followed with single to right field. Savite ripped a two-RBI double down the left field line to score both Case and Hanson.
The Blue Jays scored a run in the fourth and another in the sixth on solo homers by Nick Lorenz to tie the contest at 3-3. Elizabethtown retook the lead with a three-run seventh inning for a 6-3 advantage.
Moravian would get a run back in the bottom of the seventh when Luke connected on a solo home run down the left field line, his second homer of the season and fourth of his career.
Elizabethtown got the run back in the top of the ninth for a 7-4 advantage.
The Hounds used three pitchers with freshman Ryan Kahn making the start. Kahn fanned three batters in 6.1 innings of action. Junior Hunter Guard struck out one batter in 1.2 innings of work while junior Ian Carbone had one strikeout in an inning on the mound.
