Box Score
YORK, Pa. (Baseball) – The second-seeded Shenandoah Hornets defeated the fifth-seeded Alvernia Crusaders, 8-6, on Saturday at PeoplesBank Park. The Hornets advance to Sunday for an elimination game at 12 p.m., while the Crusaders were eliminated from the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Shenandoah (39-9) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Tristan Baker led off the game with a double down the left-field line, and then scored on an RBI-single by Abel Arocho.
Three batters later, the Hornets loaded the bases with one out. Luke Nussman drove a single up the middle to score two more runs. Then Neil Dutton singled to right field to load the bases again with one out. A wild pitch moved each runner over a base for a 4-0 lead. Another run came on a ground out before the end of the half inning for a 5-0 Hornets’ lead.
The Hornets loaded the bases again in the second inning with two outs, but Alvernia got out of the jam.
Alvernia (30-15-2) got on the board with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the third inning to cut the deficit to 5-2. Colin Rieger and Mike Cirilli both drove in runs with RBI-singles.
The Crusaders followed that with two more runs in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 5-4. The RBIs came from Franco Esposito and Ben Dubas.
Shenandoah’s Christian Rice added an RBI-single in the fifth inning to push the lead to 6-4. The Hornets then loaded the bases with two outs, and earned an RBI-walk to extend the lead to 7-4.
Alvernia loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning on a perfectly placed bunt by Nathan Sides. Then Cameron Coons hit into a double-play, but the Crusaders got a run across to cut the deficit to 7-5.
The Hornets added a run in the eighth to take an 8-5 lead.
The Crusaders had a rally in the bottom of the eighth. Nathan Sides executed a hit-and-run through the right side to score a run and advance a runner to third. But that was the only run Alvernia would get, trailing 8-6.
Shenandoah will advance to play No. 1 Johns Hopkins in an elimination game on Sunday at 12 p.m. That winner will play No. 3 Wheaton (Mass.) in the regional title game at 3:30 p.m.