BOX SCORE
Quakertown, Pa. (May 4, 2008) – In between the years 2000-05 winning a Freedom Conference championship for the DeSales University baseball team became a routine event, but over the past two years the achievement eluded the Bulldogs until Sunday afternoon when DeSales smashed 17 hits and 13 runs to defeat Manhattanville College, 13-6, and return to the Freedom Conference winner's circle with its eighth Freedom Conference title and the first in the last three years.
Along with the title comes the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament where the Bulldogs (24-18-1 overall) will return for the first time since the 2005 season hoping to find some of that College World Series magic they captured in 2003 when DSU won four straight NCAA Regional games and advanced to its first and only College World Series appearance in Appleton, WI that year. The NCAA field will be announced early on Monday, May 12th with the Regional tournament set to begin on Wednesday, May 14th or Thursday, May 15th pending site selection.
On Sunday, the Valiants (28-13 overall) took an early lead plating one run on a bloop single, a sacrifice bunt and a DeSales University throwing error in the top of the first inning but that lead was short lived as the Bulldogs took control of this game in bottom of the inning and never lost the momentum.
Senior Andrew Heard (Alexandria, VA/Hayfield) got things started in the bottom of the first with an infield single to shortstop. Freshman Mike Newland (Frenchtown, NJ/Delaware Valley) singled to right center to put runners on first and second and senior Scott Matejicka (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) tied the game with a base hit to center field plating Heard.
Junior Zac Hess (Harleysville, PA/LaSalle) plated Newland with an RBI groundout and sophomore Andrew Feher (Reigelsville, PA/Palisades) drove in Matejicka with an RBI double to left center. With two outs and Feher standing on second, sophomore Doc Neiman (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) completed the scoring with a single to center field as DSU took a 4-1 lead after one inning.
MVille put runners on first and third with one out in the top of the second inning but sophomore Charles Swenson (Ellicott City, MD/Mt. Hebron) pitched out of the jam with a strikeout and pop out to end the threat and DSU built its lead to five runs in the bottom of the inning as Matejicka and Hess each had RBI doubles to knock out the Valiants starting pitcher.
A scoreless third and top of the fourth inning moved the game to the bottom of the fourth where Hess put DSU up 7-1 with a solo home run to right field (his eighth HR of the season) and Neiman knocked in another run with an RBI single plating junior Greg Treat (Concord, NH/Concord) who had doubled one batter earlier.
Manhattanville showed little quit despite trailing by seven runs as they strung together two straight hits after a one-out walk to cut the lead down to 8-2 and had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth before Swenson struck out the final two batters to end the threat. He retired the side in the sixth and seventh innings and the DeSales offense put the game away scoring twice in the sixth, once in the seventh and twice more in the eighth before the Valiants scored four times in the ninth, trailing 13-2 entering the inning, to provide the final tally.
In the sixth Neiman knocked in two more runs with a two-RBI double, while junior Matt Connors (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) hit his first collegiate home run, a solo shot to left center, in the seventh inning. The Bulldogs finished its scoring in the eighth when sophomore Derek Moyer (Harleysville, PA/Souderton) had an RBI double plating junior Mike Bianca (Ellicott City, MD/Mt. St. Joseph) and Neiman scored on a passed ball.
Swenson earned the win as he scattered 11 hits over 7.1 innings allowing two runs while walking just one and striking out seven. Matejicka finished the game with three hits, three runs scored and two RBI's, Hess had two hits and three RBI's, Feher registered two hits and two runs scored and Neiman had three hits and four RBI's in the win. Treat finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player for his play throughout the weekend.
