West Lawn, PA – The Misericordia University baseball team defeated DeSales University, 10-2, to advance to the final day of the MAC Freedom Championships, Saturday afternoon at Owls Field.
Tom Jacob earned the win for the Cougars, allowing just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work.
Kyle Melahn tossed one scoreless inning while
Zach Mason held the Bulldogs scoreless for two innings.
Tyler Holzapfel and
Brady Madden led the Cougars with three RBI. Holzapfel had a two-run home run, two walks and two runs scored while Madden had two hits and two runs scored.
Shane Hughes had two hits and two RBI while
Kenny Jarema reached base three times with two hits and a walk. Jarema also added two runs scored and one RBI.
Jacob tossed a scoreless first inning for the Cougars. The All-MAC Freedom honorable mention struck out the first batter swinging on three pitches and induced a pop up and a fly out to end the inning.
In the second inning, Holzapfel gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead with a home run to right field. The junior slugger launched a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall after
Billy Kerwien reached second base on a throwing error to open the frame.
The Cougars added two more in the third inning. Jarema led off the frame with a bloop single to left field to extend his on-base streak to 30-games.
Parker Abate then dropped down a perfect bunt to the first base side to reach on a single and
Steve Weisensee loaded up the bases on a fielding error. Madden and Holzapfel came through for the Cougars with consecutive sacrifice flies to center field to take a four-run lead. However, DeSales got one run back in the fourth inning with a two-out rally, 4-1.
Misericordia batted around for four runs in the fourth inning. Jarema plated the first run with an RBI double off the first base bag while Madden drove home two runs with a line drive single to left field. Hughes then hit a line drive off the pitcher's leg to score the inning's final run, 8-1.
The Cougars added two more runs in the sixth inning. Madden came home on a wild pitch for the first run and Hughes drove in the second run with a single to left field, 10-2.
In the seventh inning, Melahn entered in relief of Jacob. The All-MAC Freedom selection struck out two batters and tossed 13 pitches in one inning of work.
Mason threw the last two innings for the Cougars, striking out one batter and allowing just two hits.
The Cougars improved to 31-10 overall while DeSales fell to 22-18 on the season. The Cougars will play the winner of game five, which will feature DeSales University against the winner of Manhattanville versus King's College, tomorrow at noon.
