La PLUME, Pa. – The Keystone College baseball program celebrated its 17th-straight conference title on Saturday afternoon with a 9-4 victory in game three over visiting Wilson College at Christy Mathewson Field.
With the win, the Giants improve to 24-18 on the season as the Giants have now won 13 consecutive CSAC titles and 17 straight conference titles (NEAC) dating back to the 2005 season. Wilson ends their year at 31-11. The Phoenix grabbed game one, 11-2, before Keystone won game two, 6-3, to force Saturday's deciding game.
Keystone will now wait for the NCAA Division III Selection Show on Monday, May 16 at 12 p.m. That link can be found here.
RJ Gouldsbury (Throop, Pa./Mid Valley) enjoyed a 2-for-4 day at the plate, driving in four runs while scoring two on route to being named the Tournament MVP. The 2022 CSAC Player of the Year hit a double down the left-field line in the first and blasted a three-run homer to left in the second.
CSAC Commissioner Marie Stroman presents RJ Gouldsbury with his MVP award.
JD Barrett (Moosic, Pa./Dallas) tallied two hits and three runs while Julio Acosta (Elizabeth, N.J./Hudson Catholic) enjoyed a pair of hits and two runs. The one through three hitters of Barrett, Acosta, and Gouldsbury combined 6-for-11 with seven runs and five RBI.
Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa./Honesdale) tallied two hits while Vince Montone (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson Township) and Chris Hadsall (Lehman, Pa./Lake Lehman) came through with RBI hits in the bottom of the eighth to provide Keystone with insurance runs.
Nick Gravel (Sidney, N.Y./Sidney) earned his second save of the season, tossing 2.2 innings in relief, giving up just one hit. After allowing a leadoff double, Gravel induced three-straight flyouts to start the celebration and dog pile at the mound for Keystone.
Keystone celebrates their 17th-straight conference championship.
Brayan Villar (West Orange, N.J./Belleville) started for the Giants and struck out two in two innings. Nick Termini (Clark Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) was credited with the win while Patrick Adamski (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) pitched in relief.
The Phoenix got the scoring going early after opening the game with consecutive walks as Gerald Buchanan drove both runners in on a single to left field.
Keystone responded with a string of hits to plate a pair of runs on back-to-back doubles by Acosta and Gouldsbury. The Wilson starting pitcher balked for the second time in the inning to move Gouldsbury over before he raced home on a wild pitch for the go-ahead score.
An inning later, the Giants rallied with two outs highlighted by a three-run home run by Gouldsbury to make it a 6-2 ballgame. Wilson answered with a two-run shot to right-center to trim the Keystone lead down to 6-4 before Montone and Hadsall capped off the contest with clutch run-scoring hits.
The 2022 senior class with the CSAC Championship plaque.
