BOX SCORE (Game 1)
BOX SCORE (Game 2)
Center Valley, PA (May 1, 2010) – Behind three home runs from junior Mike Newland (Frenchtown, NJ/Delaware Valley), the DeSales University baseball team swept Saturday's home doubleheader with FDU-Florham to earn the #1 seed in this upcoming week's Freedom Conference playoffs via scores of 6-5 and 15-12 on a perfect day for baseball at Butz Field.
Newland hit two home runs in the first game, breaking a 12-year old record set in 1998 by Bryan Gibson with 11 dingers in a season. His round-tripper in the second game gave him 13 on the season, 11 of which have come in Freedom Conference play.
The sweep moves DeSales to 24-15 overall as it finishes the regular season with a 17-4 Freedom Conference record earning the #1 seed in playoffs. FDU-Florham falls to 28-8 overall and 15-6 in the Freedom and will be the #2 seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs. The playoffs begin on Wednesday with DeSales and FDU hosting the two first-round games. The Bulldogs will be taking on the #4 seed, King's College, at Butz Field with a time to be announced on Monday afternoon. FDU hosts #3 seed Manhattanville College on Wednesday. The double elimination tournament then shifts to Bear Stadium in Boyertown, PA for the remainder of games on Saturday and Sunday with times for each day to be announced also on Monday.
In game one on Saturday the Bulldogs opened up a 6-0 lead thru five innings thanks to two homers in the third and fifth innings (each a two-run shot) by Newland and an RBI double from senior Andrew Feher (Riegelsville, PA/Palisades) and a sacrifice fly from freshman Derek Chrismer (Mountain Top, PA/Crestwood) in the fourth inning.
Freshman David Drinks (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) was cruising thru five innings allowing just one hit, as his no-hitter was broken up to start the fifth inning but ran into some trouble in the sixth allowing five runs on four hits and two costly walks as the Devils climbed back into the game, trailing 6-5 after six frames.
In the seventh, senior Joe Walsh (Green Brook, NJ/Watchung Hills) came into the game and worked around two walks to record his second save of the season, preserving the win. Drinks improves to 8-0 on the season with the victory as he allowed five hits and five runs, while striking out six. Newland finished 2-for-3 with two, two-run home runs and sophomore Jack Kavetski (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh) and Chrismer also had two hits in the game one win.
The second game was a slugfest.
The Devils jumped all over DSU's second game starter, freshman Dan Gayeski (New Castle, DE/Salesianum), scoring five runs on five hits in the first inning to take a 5-0 lead. Gayeski however was masterful over the next four innings allowing just one run on six hits thru five innings allowing the Bulldog offense a chance to get back in the game.
And get back in the game they did.
DSU scored three times in the first inning on RBI singles from junior Carson Slonaker (East Greenville, PA/The Perkiomen School), sophomore Jason Hadinger (Northampton, PA/Allentown Central Catholic), and sophomore Ethan Moser (Barto, PA/Boyertown). Trailing 6-3 entering the bottom of the second inning, DSU tied the game up on another two-run homer from Newland and an error on FDU allowing senior Derek Moyer (Harleysville, PA/Souderton) to scamper home with the tying run after a double following Newland's big fly.
DeSales took the lead for good in the third when Moyer singled home sophomore Nick Chiovitti (Thomaston, CT/Holy Cross) and extended the lead to 9-6 in the fourth on an RBI single from Chiovitti and a sacrifice fly from Kavetski. In the fifth, the Bulldogs made it an 11-6 game when Moser went deep to right-field scoring Slonaker who singled earlier in the inning.
FDU refused to quit scoring twice in the sixth inning but a four-run bottom of the sixth from the Bulldogs essentially put the game away despite the Devils putting the go-ahead run at the plate with a four-run rally in top of the seventh inning to provide the final 15-12 margin.
Gayeski was rewarded for his bounce back effort following the first inning with his eighth win of the season. Nine different Bulldogs had hits and seven of them had multiple hits in the win. Kateski scored three times out of the leadoff spot. Newland had two more hits, scored twice, and knocked in two runs, Moyer went 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs, Slonaker had three hits, scored twice and knocked in two runs, Hadinger and Feher each had two hits, and Moser was 3-for-4 with three RBIs in the game two win.
