Boyertown, PA (5-14-11) – THREE-PEAT!
For the third consecutive year the Keystone College baseball team is the toast of the Colonial States Athletic Conference, as the Giants will once again be returning to the NCAA tournament following a 6-3 victory over second seed Gwynedd-Mercy College.
The Giants, who now wait for which regional they will participate in, will open up NCAA tournament play on Wednesday. This also marks the fourth consecutive year that Keystone will head to the NCAA'S.
The victory also moves Keystone to 32-10 on the season, while Gwynedd falls to 18-16-1.
Esteban Meletiche and Fernando Perez picked up three hits each for the Giants, while Roberto Santana added a pair as Keystone knocked out 11 hits in their clincher.
Santana was also named the MVP of the 2011 CSAC Championships during the post game ceremonies.
Jeff Frost worked the first five innings, allowing just one hit in picking up the victory. Frost, who struck out seven, did not return to the mound following a lengthy rain delay.
Brian Del Rosso drove in two to lead the Giants in that line.
The Griffins threatened in the opening inning, using a pair of walks to get runners on the second and third, but Frost struck out Jay Sechowicz to squash the threat. Keystone also made some noise in the first when their first two batters reached safely, however a strike-out, throw out double play ended the scoring opportunity.
Keystone broke the stalemate in the second as the first two runners reached safely, when Andy Vega walked and Gabe Torres successfully executed a bunt single. After Lance Ratchford's sacrifice moved the runners up, Perez singled to deep short to plate Vega. The Giants made it 2-0 when Meletiche drilled a double to left-center to bring Torres around.
The Giants tacked on another run in the fourth as they strung together a pair of two out hits and a walk, with Santana delivering the run scoring single to plate Meletiche. Keystone added another pair of runs in the fifth to move their lead to 5-0, using the long ball and some small ball in the frame.
Vega led off the inning with a deep shot over the fence in left-center to push the lead to 4-0, before Del Rosso successfully executed a safety squeeze to score Ratchford who had singled earlier in the inning.
After a nearly one hour and forty-five minute rain delay, Del Rosso helped produce another Keystone run in the seventh with a RBI groundout which scored Ractchford to give the Giants a 6-0 edge.
The Griffins cut the deficit in half with a three run eight inning, using RBI doubles by Colin Tosti and Austin Ley and a RBI single by Jay Sechowicz. The Griffins looked to cut into the Keystone lead even further, but relief pitcher Adam Krebs stopped the momentum.
Derek Alex worked a perfect ninth inning to earn the save.
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