CHESTER, PA – In the York College baseball team's regular season finale, the Widener Pride handed the Spartans a 7-4 loss on Tuesday afternoon in Chester.
The loss knocked the Spartans to the fifth seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth tournament as the Green and White now must beat Messiah on Thursday to get to this weekend's semifinals against top seeded Lebanon Valley. Widener earned the third seed via the victory as they will face second seeded Alvernia in the other semifinal on Saturday.
York has lost four of their last six as they went from being tied for second to the fifth seed.
 
Records: York 19-18 (14-10 MACC); Widener 21-18 (15-9)
Runs: York 4; Widener 7
Hits: York 8; Widener 11
Errors: York 2; Widener 3
WP: Hayden O'Neill (5-2); LP: Bryce Shaffer (6-2); Save: Toby Hallman (2)
 
How It Happened
• The Pride got on the board early as Justin Costanzo doubled down the right field line with two outs in the bottom of the first. Andrew Yates then singled to center to score Costanzo for the 1-0 lead. Kyle Brex added to the lead in the third with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Aaron Nuble for a 2-0 lead.
• Nuble had a big blow in the fourth as he lifted a two-out, three run homer to left center to make it 5-0. Four of the first five runs for Widener came on two-out hits.
• York got on the board in the fifth as Brian Jakubek ripped a lead-off triple to center. He scored on a Lucas Prendergast ground out to first. Gabe Trevena then doubled to left and moved to third on a Pride error. Connor Pickle stroked a single to center, scoring Trevena with York's second run.
• The Spartans scored another run in the top of the seventh only to have the Pride answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. The same thing happened in the eighth as Trevena had a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4. Widener got that run back as well on a Spartan error to provide for the final 7-4 Pride margin of victory.
 
Spartan Offensive Leaders
Connor Pickle: 2-for-3, 2 RBI
Lucas Prendergast: 2-for-3, 1 run, RBI, 2 BB, SB
Brian Jakubek: 2-for-4, 1 run, 3B
Gabe Trevena: 1-for-3, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2B, SF
 
Spartan Pitching
Bryce Shaffer: 4.0 IP, 7 hits, 5 ER, 1 BB
Yandel Tolentino: 2.2 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
Ethan Kennedy: 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 ER, 2 K, 2 BB
 
Spartan Notes
York is now 10-4 all-time against Widener as they are now 6-3 against the Pride as conference opponents … Widener won the season series 2-1 … the Spartans fall to 8-10 away from Jaquet Field … the Spartans have given up 112 (37, 37, and 38) runs combined in the first three innings this year … that is 48% of their total runs for the year (235) … York is 6-11 when making two errors or more in a game … the Spartans are 6-14 when their opponent scores first in a game … sophomore pitcher Bryce Shaffer had his four-game win streak snapped as he took just his second loss of the year … Shaffer is now 5-2 in eight starts in conference action … senior Robby Elzinga finished the conference season hitting .402 with 18 runs, nine doubles, a triple, three home runs and 19 RBI … Elzinga had an OPS at 1.087 and a slugging percentage of .632 … Elzinga had his seven game hit streak snapped … freshman Lucas Prendergast has now reached base safely in 12 straight games while Elzinga has an eight game streak … Prendergast notched his ninth multi-hit game with two knocks … junior Connor Pickle registered his fourth multi-RBI game of the year as he came off the bench to record a pair in the game … the Spartans head into the MAC Tournament with an all-time record of 9-4 including a 2021 championship … the Spartans have never met Messiah in the Commonwealth tournament.
 
Up Next
The Spartans head to Grantham, PA to face the Messiah University Falcons in the MAC Commonwealth Play-In game on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is set for 3:30 pm. The winner advances to face top seeded Lebanon Valley in the Commonwealth semifinals on May 6.