Lakewood, NJ (5-14-09) - Ryan Smyth blasted a sixth inning grand slam that proved to be the difference as Keystone College downed Elizabethtown College 10-8 in a winner's bracket contest at the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Wih the victory the Giants run their win streak to 27 straight as they move to 39-4 on the year. Next up for the Giants will be Kean University on Friday at 4:30pm in a winner's bracket game. Kean was the last team to hand the Giants a loss, a 9-4 decision on March 22.
Groff turned in a big day at the dish with a four-for-five night, including a home run. He also scored four times while knocking in three.
Ben Fish drove in three as part of his two hit night, while Kyle Conrad also picked up a pair of hits. The trio of Smyth, Groff and Fish accounted for all 10 of Keystone's runs.
Keystone jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Groff hit his 13th home run of the season to deep right field.
The Giants added three runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead on an RBI single by Groff and a two-run single by senior Ben Fish. The Blue Jays got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by junior Brian Kiernanand sophomore Anthony Heaps.
Keystone came back with a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Fish, but Elizabethtown responded in the bottom of the inning as senior Adam Sheibley tripled and scored on a single by junior Rodney Francis to pull within 5-3.
In the sixth, Groff singled for his third run batted in of the game to give Keystone a 6-3 lead, and two batters later Smyth hammered his eighth home run over the fence in deep left-center to boost the Giant lead to 10-3.
Elizabethtown tacked on a run in the seventh on a groundout by senior Sam Heaps and two more in the eighth on a dropped fly ball and an RBI double by Sheibley to cut the Giant lead to 10-6.
The Blue Jays had the tying run on deck in the bottom of the ninth after a RBI single by junior Ben Yeager and a RBI fielder's choice by Anthony Heaps, however senior reliever Brett Repardforced a fly ball for the final out of the game to advance the Giants.
Fish went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while senior Kyle Conradfinished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored for the Giants. Junior Sean Murphyimproved to 9-0 as he allowed two earned runs on 10 hits over eight innings while striking out eight to earn the victory for Keystone.
Five players finished with a multi-hit game for the Blue Jays, as Anthony Heaps was 2-of-5 with two RBI and Kiernan had two hits, two runs scored and one RBI.
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