(Posted May 6, 2005)

Elizabethtown 8, Juniata 4

West Lawn, Pa. ? Another record-break season for the Juniata College baseball team came to an end Friday night as the Eagles were unable to bounce back from its defeat earlier in the day and fell to Elizabethtown College 8-4 in Commonwealth Conference postseason action in West Lawn, Pa. Friday evening. The loss eliminates Juniata from the double-elimination postseason and drops Juniata?s record to 25-17 for the season. The 25 victories established a new program record for wins in a season. Elizabethtown brought its record to 19-19-1 with the win, and will take on Messiah in the Commonwealth Championship game on Saturday.

Juniata never led in the game despite rallying from a 2-0 deficit. The Eagles actually out-hit the Blue Jays 10-9 in the contest, but were unable to break through against Etown starter Adam Rebert. Juniata starter Andrew Snyder (Punxustawney/Punxsutawney) went 5 2-3 innings and allowed four runs on five hits. He fanned five, but also walked five hitters.

?We?re obviously disappointed with the way things ended, but the results today don?t take anything away from the effort our team gave this year,? Head Coach George Zanic stated. ?We just weren?t able to make enough plays or get the key hits when we needed them today. But I can?t find any fault with our effort. Our effort today, and the entire season was just outanding.?

Elizabethtown pushed across two runs in the top of the second. Mike Donahue drove in the first tally with an infield single to second. Jon Kalejta added the second with a single to right off Snyder, but he was gunned down at second trying to advance on the throw back into the infield.

Juniata mounted its first threat of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Will Russell (Tyrone/Tyrone) and Matt Garner (Bellwood-Antis/Bellwood) started the frame with back-to-back singles. A foul out advanced Garner to second with one out and Darren Hake (Red Lion/Red Lion) knocked a single to center which brought home both runners home after the centerfielder bobbled the ball. A double play ended the inning with the score tied 2-2.

The Blue Jays moved back in front in the top of the sixth. Bryan Torresani drove in Steve Luongo with an RBI single, and then a wild pitch brought home Eric Guise who had reached on a walk. With two out, a walk loaded the bases and drove Snyder from the game. Eric Bridenbaugh (Central/Martinsburg) came on in relief and fanned the final batter to keep the Blue Jay lead at 4-2.

Elizabethtown added to the lead when the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out against Bridenbaugh in the top of the eighth. Paul Evans (Huntingdon/Huntingdon) came on and walked in one run, and Seth Guida followed with a two-RBI single to make the score 7-2 in favor of the Blue Jays.

Juniata cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Dan Kauffman (Penn Manor/Conestoga) launched a two-run homer to right field, scoring Jason Enoch (Hempfield/Landisville) to make Etown?s lead 7-4.

The Blue Jays countered with a run in the top of the ninth. Guise delivered an RBI single to plate Damien Jones and extend the lead to 8-4.

Juniata put three runners on in the bottom of the ninth as Hake singled with two outs, and Paul Berry (North Hagerstown/Hagerstown, Md.) doubled. David Saintz (Titusville/Titusville) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Matt Woehnker retired the final batter to close the game.

Hake finished 2-for-4 with an RBI in the game. Goedkoop and Garner each a pair of hits. Russell pounded out one hit in the game, which gave him 56 on the season, tying the Juniata single-season record.

The Eagles graduate four seniors from the team, a group that totaled 88 wins over the past four seasons.

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