Elizabethtown College Baseball News 
Back to top 2/24/2009 Baseball tied for first in Commonwealth preseason poll FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Elizabethtown Baseball Tied for First in Commonwealth Conference ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College and Messiah College are tied for first in the Commonwealth Conference baseball preseason coaches poll, the conference office announced Tuesday. Elizabethtown and Messiah each received three first-place votes and 29 points to share the top spot in the poll, followed by Widener University (24 points), Albright College and Arcadia University (16 points apiece) and Lebanon Valley College (13 points). The
Blue Jays finished in first place last season with a 10-2 league mark, but lost to the Falcons 7-3 in the conference championship game. Seven members of the starting lineup as well as nine of last year's 10 pitchers return for head coach Cliff Smith, who begins his third season on the Elizabethtown bench. Senior left fielder Adam Sheibley was also a first-team All-Conference selection after hitting .371 with five home runs, 32 runs batted in, 48 runs scored and a league-best 28 stolen bases. Junior center fielder Rodney Francis and junior shortstop Matt Vinagro are also back after being named second-team All-Commonwealth last year. The Blue Jays, who opened their season with a 7-4 loss at Shenandoah University on Saturday afternoon, will travel to Fort Pierce, Fla. for seven games from March 1-5. Elizabethtown is slated to play its home opener on Sunday, March 8 against Franklin & Marshall College, and will open its 15-game Commonwealth Conference schedule on Saturday, March 21 with a doubleheader at Messiah. Back to top 2/21/2009 Baseball falls 7-4 at Shenandoah in season opener ELIZABETHTHOWN COLLEGE BASEBALL Shenandoah 7, Elizabethtown 4 WINCHESTER, Va. --- Shenandoah University scored seven runs over the final four innings to erase a 4-0 deficit and defeat Elizabethtown College 7-4 in non-conference baseball action on Saturday afternoon. Trailing 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Hornets (5-1 overall) scored four runs to tie the game at 4-4, then added two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to pick up the win over the Blue Jays (0-1 overall). Kevin Brashears hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the seventh for Shenandoah, while Scott Van Dusseldorp went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs batted in for the Hornets. Senior Tom Semanek (Swoyersville, PA/Bishop Hoban) went 2-for-4 with two doubles, including a two-run double in the first inning, while junior Matt Vinagro (Fredericksburg, VA/Stafford) added a two-run single in the fourth inning for Elizabethtown to give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead. In the sixth, the Hornets used a three-run double by Greg Van Sickler and an RBI single by Van Dusseldorp to tie the game at 4-4. Brashears roped a two-run home run in the seventh to give Shenandoah a 6-4 lead, and Van Dusseldorp added a solo shot in the eighth to close out the scoring. Junior Adam Hartzell (Spring City, PA/Owen J. Roberts) took the loss for Elizabethtown after allowing four hits and three earned runs in 1 2/3 innings of relief, while Bryce Sears (2-0) picked up the win with 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief. Gage Levac picked up his third save by recording the final five outs for the Hornets. Shenandoah Univ. 7, Elizabethtown Coll. 4 Back to top 2/3/2009 Etown to battle Lancaster Barnstormers in exhibition game FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, February 3, 2009 Elizabethtown to Play Lancaster Barnstormers in Exhibition Game ELIZABETHTOWN,
Pa. --- The Elizabethtown College baseball team will play the Lancaster Barnstormers in an exhibition game at Clipper Magazine Stadium on Thursday, April 16 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. The Barnstormers, members of the Atlantic League, will welcome the Blue Jays in the first of six exhibition games prior to their season opener against the Newark Bears on Thursday, April 23. Elizabethtown head coach Cliff Smith is a former member of the Barnstormers, having pitched in 33 games for the team in their inaugural season of 2005. Last season, he led the Blue Jays to a 26-12 overall record and a 10-2 mark in the Commonwealth Conference. "Playing in a facility like Clipper Magazine Stadium against the kind of professionals on the Barnstormers is something pro athletes sometimes take for granted," Smith said. "This was an experience for our team that we just couldn't pass up." Lancaster will also play Franklin & Marshall College in an exhibition on Monday, April 20 in addition to two games each against Atlantic League rivals Somerset Patriots and York Revolution. |
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