SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Only seven weeks after its beginning, the 2001 Susquehanna University baseball and softball teams will finish their regular seasons in less than one week. While the softball team has secured its first-ever Commonwealth Conference regular-season title and the top seed in the upcoming conference playoffs, the baseball team has struggled offensively all year and is faced with long odds in hopes of making a second straight trip to the postseason.
The softball team earned first place on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Moravian to finish with a league mark of 10-4. While they have wrapped up their Commonwealth Conference slate, the Crusaders are slated to face Wilkes in a non-league matchup next Monday in Wilkes-Barre.
The baseball squad finishes its home slate with a single game on Thursday against York and a Commonwealth Conference twinbill versus Juniata on Saturday. The Crusaders need two wins and help from at least three other schools to have any chance of a postseason berth. Susquehanna closes the regular season next Monday at Gettysburg.
THE BASEBALL REPORT
Greyhounds Great At Home
The Crusaders lost its second consecutive MAC doubleheader as Moravian held the Crusaders' bats to two runs in 14 innings of play.
In the first game, the Crusaders lost 4-2 after a two-run rally in the bottom of the fifth drove junior starter John Jezorwski (Moosic, Pa./Riverside H.S.) from the mound. Freshman reliever Adam Martin (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor H.S.) came in to give up the game-winning base hit to pitcher Joe Pochron before getting. the next three batters without any more damage. Martin pitched two scoreless innings in the game.
Moravian's Randy Woolley pitched a complete-game three hitter in the next game to sweep the Crusaders. Only junior catcher Travis Zook (Belleville, Pa./Indian Valley H.S.),, senior first baseman Lyle Hosler (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township H.S.), and senior third baseman Mike Sauers (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg H.S.) managed hits against Woolley.
On the mound for the Crusaders, junior right-hander Patrick Quillian (Nichols Hills, Okla./Casady H.S) 3 2/3 innings, giving up three hits, four runs, but only two earned runs. Senior lefthander Josh Shipton (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg H.S.) was hit hard out of the bullpen, giving up three runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings of work.
Non-Conference Nailbiter
Susquehanna edged out Wilkes 9-7 in a non-conference extra-inning affair Thursday. The Crusaders were led by Hosler who went 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and three runs batter in.
Sauers went 3-for-5 in the game while scoring twice. Senior shortstop Matt Springman (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville H.S.) hit a double and scored a run as did freshman center fielder Gerohn Lanns (Pickering, Ont./Pickering H.S.) who also added an RBI.
Freshman left hander Adrian Bordner (Trevorton, Pa./Line Mountain H.S.) pitched four innings in relief giving up three runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 7. Shipton relieved Bordner, pitching 2 1/3 innings of one-hit scoreless relief to get the win. Shipton is currently 2-3 with a 6.12 ERA in 25 innings of work. Out of the bullpen, Shipton is 2-0 with a 2.90 ERA in 12.4 innings of work this season.
The Crusaders scored two runs in the top of the tenth with the help of three Wilkes errors. Senior second baseman Chris Knickerbocker (Hampden, Maine/Hampden Academy) scored on an error while freshman Bob Haile (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy H.S.) was hit by a pitch to score freshman leftfielder Nathan Trick (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville H.S.).
From the mound Springman closed out his fifth game for the Crusaders in the tenth inning. Springman is tied for the Commonwealth Conference lead in saves, as he has pitched 7 1/3 innings and given up no earned runs while striking out six batters.
Lions Lose First, Roar Back In Second
Springman knocked in Zook in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs to lead the Crusaders to a victory in the first game of the Commonwealth Conference doubleheader against Albright Saturday.
In the second game, the Crusaders fell 9-3 as the Lions knocked 14 hits around Bollinger Field, seven of which were extra base hits.
In the first game, Martin pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up six walks and four hits but only one first-inning tally. Martin is 1-0 on the season with a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings of work. He was replaced in the top of the seventh with the game tied at 1-1 and a man on first by Jezorwski. Jezorwski got the final two out of the inning to get the win. Jezorwski is 2-2 on the year with 10 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings of work.
In the second game, the Crusaders knocked around seven hits and five doubles, two from Knickerbocker who leads the team with 8, one from Hosler who has 6, one from Sauers who has 5, and one from Haile, his first as a Crusader.
Hosler went 3-for-5 on the day with one RBI and two runs scored. He leads the team in batting average (.373), runs (18), hits (25), RBIs (13), on base percentage (.494), and stolen bases (5). Hosler also has a four-game hitting streak while he has gotten on base in each of the last nine games.
Freshman righthander Nathan Trick pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief giving up only one run to close the game out for Susquehanna. Trick is currently 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in 7 innings of work.
THE SOFTBALL REPORT
Freshman Amy Kleman (Locustdale, Pa./Cardinal Brennan H.S.) tossed a two-hitter for her first career shutout to lead the Crusaders to a 1-0 victory over Moravian on Sunday and the first regular-season title in the program's 24-year history. Kleman struck out three and walked two while not allowing a base hit after the third inning, while the game's only run came in the first inning as sophomore second baseman Erin Nittinger (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville H.S.) crossed the plate on an outfield error following a single by junior third baseman Shelly Zimmerman (Denver, Pa./Garden Spot H.S.).
Zimmerman's hit extended her hitting streak to 17 straight games, during which she has batted .491 with three home runs and 16 runs batted in. She started the season 1-for-11 and was 5-for-26 during the team's eight-game season-opening road trip through the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.
Meanwhile, sophomore outfielder Teresa Ely (Montrose, Pa./Montrose H.S.) has fashioned a 17-game hitting streak of her own to boost her average to .388 for the year. In Sunday's crucial twinbill with Moravian, Ely injected a little drama of her own to the doubleheader as she extended her streak in her final at-bat of both games, including a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh of the opener that cut the Lady Greyhounds' lead to 6-2.
Like Zimmerman, Ely struggled during the team's Southern trip, opening the year with just four hits in her first 24 at-bats. However, during her hitting streak she has picked up 29 hits in 61 at-bats (.475).
Senior righthander Kristen Hogan (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury H.S.) made history on Tuesday as she became the winningest pitcher at Susquehanna with her 44th win in the Crusaders' 9-7 win in game two of a doubleheader at Albright — breaking the school record of 43 set from 1983 to 1986 by Judy Shotlis. In 76 career games, Hogan has posted a 44-22 record with 52 complete games in 56 starts and 435 strikeouts. She had a nine-game winning streak snapped by Moravian on Sunday, losing 6-2 to the Lady Greyhounds.
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