Baseball News

AGGIES SPLIT WITH ARCADIA, SECURE FREEDOM PLAYOFF BERTH

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - It took an amazing set of events, but it all occurred for Delaware Valley College as the Aggies are headed to the Freedom Conference playoffs for the first time since 2004 after splitting a home doubleheader with Arcadia University on Saturday. The Aggies dropped a 19-4 decision in the opener but came back with an 11-5 triumph in the second game.

With Delaware Valley's loss to Arcadia yesterday and Saturday first-game setback, the Aggies needed to not only win the second game but have a doubleheader sweep by either DeSales University or Wilkes University in their match-up and have King's College drops both of its home games against conference front-runner Manhattanville College.

Delaware Valley took care of its business and DeSales took a pair from Wilkes, including a game-winning hit in the seventh inning in the opener. Manhattanville took the first game from King's and the Aggies awaited a call with the results of the nightcap. The Valiants completed the sweep and left Delaware Valley tied with Wilkes for the fourth and final spot. The tiebreaker edge went to the Aggies as they won two of three games from the Colonels earlier in the season.

As a result, Delaware Valley finished the regular season with a 24-15 record (8-10 Freedom) and will battle Manhattanville in the opening round of the Freedom Conference playoffs on Friday, May 2 (4:00 p.m.) at Quakertown Memorial Park. The other first-round match-up will feature No. 2 DeSales and No. 3 Arcadia at 7:30 p.m. The double elimination tournament will run through Sunday with the champion earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

It was all Arcadia (16-19-1, 10-8) in Saturday's opener as it racked up 19 runs on 22 hits. John Curreri led off the game with a home and it propelled the Knights to 11 runs in the first three innings, including a seven spot in the third stanza.

Delaware Valley got three back in the third on a three-run homer by Kevin Weingart. However, Arcadia scored one in the fourth and two more in the fifth inning for a 15-3 advantage. A Mike Isgro sacrifice fly in the fifth accounted for the Aggies' fourth and final run. The Knights then added four runs in the seventh for the 19-4 final.

Curreri went 4-foe-6 with two run scored and six RBIs. Nick Goetz added two hits and three RBIs while Ken Spangenberg went 3-for-6 with a pair of RBIs. Jared Knable went six innings to get his fourth win of the year.

Delaware Valley started stronger in the nightcap and put two on the board in the second on an Ethan Page RBI single and an Arcadia error. The Knights then used three hits, including a two-run single by Eric Console, and a pair of Aggie miscues to score four runs in the top of the third.

However, Delaware Valley answered in its half of the third with four runs off of two hits and one error. Weingart drove home two with a double while Zach Jakubowski and Page had RBIs on a fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly respectively.

The Aggies extended the lead to 9-4 in the fourth as Jakubowski notched his school-record ninth triple of the season to bring home two and then scored on an Isgro RBI single. In the sixth, Page doubled in the team's final two runs.

Page went 2-for-4 with a career-high four RBIs while Jakubowski went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Isgro was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored while Dylan Saldutti added three hits in four at-bats. Sean Tappan went six innings and improved to 4-4 on the season.