The Elizabethtown College baseball team moved to 18-6 on the season after sweeping their three-game set versus Drew University on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at home. The team came into Friday following a heartbreaking 12-11 loss to Shenandoah University on Tuesday, April 4, and they were able to bounce back with a stellar series sweep.
The Blue Jays kicked the series off with a doubleheader that Friday at noon and they were firing on all cylinders. They took the first game of the doubleheader in a blowout win, 12-3. Senior starter Nicholas Ortega notched his fifth win of the season in this one, hurling eight innings of nine strikeout ball. After the two teams traded runs in the first inning, it would be the seventh inning when Etown would break things open. Deadlocked in a 2-2 tie, the Blue Jays took the lead when first-year first baseman Quentin Perilli was hit by a pitch, allowing junior outfielder Garrett Schwartzbeck to trot home. Things continued to get better for Etown as they strung together hit after hit. It would be graduate student second baseman Tyler McGonigle who would have the game-changing hit, when he drove a ball into the gap for a bases clearing, three run double. The Blue Jays would score three more in the eighth and then finish Drew off in the ninth, with senior pitcher Micah Wolf closing the door on the win.
The second game of the doubleheader was another masterpiece put together by the Blue Jays pitching staff, winning 5-3. Sophomore starter Greg Zerbe took the hill in game two and did not disappoint. The sophomore did not give up an earned run in his start, going seven innings and sitting six batters down on strikes. Zerbe was aided by the Blue Jays offense early on, as the bats pushed three runs across the plate in the first off, a couple of fielder’s choices that drove two runs in and an RBI (run batted in) single to left from graduate student designated hitter Eamon McCoubrey. The team added a couple more insurance runs later in the game, giving senior pitcher Zach Silfies some breathing room to lock down the save.
Etown ended the weekend series on a VERY high note, with a 14-1 win on Saturday. Sophomore Kyle Mulville dominated Drew early and often, moving to 5-0 while pitching a complete game. The starter allowed just three hits all afternoon and struck out six. On the offensive side of things, the Blue Jays’ bats were red hot. They put five runs up in the bottom of the fourth and seventh innings thanks to a bundle of extra base hits. First-year shortstop Davd Woolley led the Jays offense by stealing two bases and driving in three runs off his three RBI double to center in the fourth. Drew’s only run on the day came unearned, outside of that, they were silent in the scoring column.
These wins provide some much-needed momentum for the Blue Jays as they head down the stretch with just 15 games left in the regular season. Their next game comes on Saturday, April 15, when they will meet Landmark Conference opponent Susquehanna University for a doubleheader at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. in Selinsgrove, Pa.
