IMMACULATA, Pa. - With two outs and two strikes, RJ Gouldsbury (Throop, Pa./Mid Valley) brought in the tying and game-winning runs after a sharply hit ball to third base, giving the Keystone College baseball team a thrilling 6-5 victory against host Immaculata University on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Regionals, hosted by the Mighty Macs.
With the walk-off win in the elimination game, the Giants improve to 26-19 and will now face Ithaca College (32-12) tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in the championship series.
Keystone will need to defeat the Bombers twice to claim the NCAA Regional title.
The Bombers defeated Keystone 7-2 earlier on Sunday to move to 2-0 in the tournament. Keystone is 2-1 this weekend in the double-elimination bracket. The host Mighty Macs end the year at 29-14.
Game Two: Keystone 6, Immaculata 5
The Giants trailed 4-0 after four innings but battled back and chipped away at the IU lead, cutting the deficit in half, 4-2, thanks to an RBI single by Pedro Abreu (Bronx, N.Y./Santa Teresa) and a run from Chris Hadsall (Lehman, Pa./Lake Lehman).
Abreu came through with an RBI double down the left-field line in the sixth, plating Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa./Honesdale), to make it a 4-3 contest. The Mighty Macs tacked on another run in the seventh to go ahead 5-3.
In the eighth, Kelly crushed a homer to left field - his seventh long ball of the season - to bring the Giants to within one run, 5-4. In the bottom of the ninth, with one out, Jason Thomas (Miami, Fla./Barbara Goleman) was hit by a pitch and stole second, followed by a two-out walk from Julio Acosta (Elizabeth, N.J./Hudson Catholic).
With an 0-2 count, Gouldsbury put the ball in play as Thomas and Acosta flew around the bases to give Keystone the come-from-behind victory as the players mobbed #22 in the field.
Keystone finished with eight hits against IU, as Kelly and Abreu paced KC with two hits apiece.
Brayan Villar (West Orange, N.J./Belleville) started and struck out three while Julian Gonzalez (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) pitched fantastic in a long relief outing, going 6.1 frames with two strikeouts, eight groundouts, and six flyouts on 84 pitches. Kevin Murphy (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central) and Logan Lixie (Tamarac, Fla./J.P. Taravella) appeared out of the bullpen, and only allowed two base runners.
Game One: Ithaca 7, Keystone 2
The Bombers tallied five runs in the fifth inning and outhit Keystone 10-5 in Sunday's opener to move to 2-0 in the tournament.
Keystone jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first after an RBI single from Vince Montone (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson Township) and a run by Acosta. Five players tallied hits for the Giants, with Acosta providing a double and Hadsall ripping a two-out triple in the sixth.
Nathan Hinkley (Bradenton, Fla./Saint Lucie West Centennial) earned the start and threw four frames, tossing 76 pitches with four strikeouts and six flyouts. Brandon Valles (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) and Nick Termini (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) logged relief innings, with Termini throwing 3.2 frames with two strikeouts.
