FERRUM, VA-The York College baseball squad
remained alive in the 2007 NCAA Division III Tournament as they
sent Capital Athletic Conference rival Salisbury University home
thanks to a 4-3 win on Friday morning. The Spartans improve to
31-13 overall while the Sea Gulls see an outstanding campaign come
to an end with a mark of 33-10. York won three of their four games
against Salisbury this season.
The
Spartans fell behind in the third as Hunter Wessells doubled down
the left field line, advanced to third on a Colin Kraus single and
scored on an Andrew Jensen sacrifice fly to right. The green and
white tied the game in the bottom of the frame as
Ryan Poff (York, PA/Spring
Grove) reached on a throwing error, advanced to second
on a sacrifice and scored when Bryan Bednarczyk (Columbia, MD/River
Hill) laced a single to right.
York
went up 2-1 just an inning later as Poff drove in Matt
Austin (Shrewsbury, PA/Susquehannock)
with an RBI single to right.
The
Spartans added to the lead in the sixth courtesy of a Salisbury
defensive lapse and some errant Sea Gull pitching. The inning began
with a double down the right field line by Dennis Maxim (Port Jefferson Station, NY/St.
Anthony's). He
advanced to third on a wild pitch from Salisbury starter Bryan
Brainer. Brainer then uncorked another wild pitch on ball four to
Austin, scoring Maxim with York's third run. After a
sacrifice bunt moved Austin to third, he was thrown out at third as
he was attempting to steal. Ryan
Craig (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) reignited the rally with a single. He moved to
second when Poff reached on an error with two outs. After
Mike Connolly (Selden,
NY/Newfield) walked to load the bases, reliever Eric Willey
uncorked the Sea Gulls' sixth wild pitch of the game, scoring
Craig with a critical insurance run.
Salisbury reached Spartan ace
Chris Brower (Mont Clare,
PA/Spring-Ford),
who was in relief of starterJason Christenberry (Yoe,
PA/Dallastown),
for an unearned run in the eighth. Kraus walked to lead off the
inning and Jensen singled to right as the Gulls appeared to be on
the brink of a big inning. Brower buckled down and induced Justin
Armiger into a 6-3 double play. Kraus did manage to score on a
passed ball but it could have been far worse for York.
Salisbury edged closer in the ninth as Mike
Celenza homered to deep right to start the inning. Brower then got
a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to earn the save, his second
of the year.
Christenberry earned the win as he improves to
6-0 for the season. He tossed six innings, allowing one run on five
hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Brower, coming off just
one day rest after starting against Ferrum on Wednesday, allowed
two runs, one earned, on two hits and two strikeouts. He walked a
season-high tying three batters in his three inning
stint.
Brainer, who shutout the Spartans 6-0 in the
quarterfinals of the CAC tournament, absorbed the loss as he
allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits in five innings. He
falls to 8-3 for the season. Brainer struck out two and walked two
others. Willey allowed one run on one hit and a walk in his one
inning of action. Dan Oleynik tossed the final two innings for the
Gulls and did not allow a hit as he struck out two.
The
Spartans were paced by Craig and Maxim as they each had a pair of
hits. Craig was 2-for-5 with a run scored while Maxim was 2-for-4
with a run scored including his sixth double of the year. Poff
added a hit, an RBI and a run scored while Bednarczyk was 1-for-4
with an RBI.
Kraus and Celenza led the Salisbury offense.
Kraus was 2-for-3 with a run scored while Celenza was 2-for-4 with
an RBI and a run scored on his fifth home run of the year. Jensen
added a hit and an RBI while Wessells was 1-for-5 with a run
scored.
York
returns to action on Friday afternoon as they face Methodist
University in another elimination game. First pitch from Panther
Field is slated for 4:30 pm.
