DOVER, Del. – The Bethany College baseball team was eliminated from the ECAC South Region Tournament semifinals Saturday with a 12-2 loss at top-seed and host Wesley College.
Although the season came to a disappointing finish, the year was a remarkable turnaround for the Bison. After winning just three games last year, BC finished the 2010 campaign with a 21-18 record, earned their fourth postseason bid in school history and won an ECAC Tournament contest for just the second-ever postseason victory.
Wesley seized control of the game early with six runs in the second inning, highlighted by a two-run homer from catcher Casey Rothwell to start the scoring. The hosts would put solo tallies on the board in the third and fourth innings to build an 8-0 advantage.
Bethany got on the board with a pair of scores in the top of the fifth inning. Sophomore DH Anthony Packer (River Vale, N.J./Pascack Valley Regional) led off with a double, which was followed by a walk to sophomore catcher T.J. Zarewicz (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) and single by freshman SS Alex Evans (Washington, Pa.) to load the bases. Packer came home for the first run on a wild pitch and the second run scored on a Wesley error to make it an 8-2 margin.
The Wolverines bounced right back in the bottom of the fifth when DH Tyler Burns drove in two unearned runs with a single and they scored a pair in the sixth as well. The Bison managed to get a double from junior CF Tyler Dillinger (McKeesport, Pa.) in the seventh and put two runners on in the eighth with back-to-back singles from freshman 3B Brad Kubis (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) and junior 2B Eric Fudala (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands), but were unable to push another run across.
The Bison totaled nine hits in the game, including two each for Packer, Dillinger and Evans, while Fudala, Kubis and senior RF Chris Leasure (Stafford, Ohio/Monroe Central) all had singles. The pitching loss went to sophomore Zach Grayson (McKeesport, Pa./South Allegheny), who fell to 5-4 for the year. Junior Mike Kochman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Serra Catholic) threw three innings in relief, while junior Adam Nyswaner (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) and freshman Trent Cornwell (Grove City, Ohio) tossed scoreless frames.
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