Center Valley, PA (April 20, 2007) – Having not played in six days, the rust was evident in the DeSales University baseball bats as the Bulldogs were forced to gut out a 3-2 win over visiting Drew University in a Freedom Conference game on a picture perfect day for baseball at Butz Field on Friday afternoon.

 

        DeSales (17-8, 9-2 Freedom) entered the game hitting .354 and ranked among the national leaders in several offensive categories including runs scored in which it was averaging 10.2 per game.  The Bulldogs, however, managed just seven hits and scratched out three runs before holding off a late Drew (8-17, 2-8 Freedom) rally to earn its third straight win.

 

        DSU scored once in the second, fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead before the Rangers scored an unearned run in the eighth and once more in the ninth before junior Mike Concilio (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) shut the door on the Drew comeback by getting the final two outs with Ranger runners on second and third to preserve the win.

 

        In the second inning, freshman Andrew Feher (Riegelsville, PA/Palisades) doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch.  Junior Scott Matejicka (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) then knocked in Feher with an RBI groundout staking DSU to a 1-0 lead.

 

        In the fourth, DSU loaded the bases and scored its lone run a Matejicka single but were unable to score again with the bases loaded and one out as a double play ended the inning.  The Bulldogs tacked on one more in the fifth when sophomore Greg Treat (Concord, NH/Concord) singled and came around to score on another single from fellow sophomore Matt Connors (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township).

 

        Drew loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and scored its second run of the game on a wild pitch.  After the wild pitch, Concilio entered the game and struck out the first batter he faced and forced the next hitter into a ground ball to third base that was gobbled up by senior Matt Lezinsky (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) who fired to first to end the game.

 

        Cambridge Search Player of the Game honors go to sophomore James Niesuchouski (Chester, VT/St. Dominic) who was spectacular going 7.2 innings allowing just three hits and one unearned run without walking a batter and striking out two.  He improves to 5-2 on the season and lowers his team-low ERA to 2.12 on the year.

 

        Concilio earns his first save of the season, retiring the final two batters of the game, while Feher was 2-for-2 at the plate and reached base all four times and Matejicka had two of the three RBI’s to lead the offensive attack.