May 26, 2006

Box Score

LAKEWOOD, NJ - Sacred Heart senior southpaw Chris Aldrich pitched 8.2 innings of four-hit baseball on Friday afternoon in a 4-0 victory for the fourth seeded Pioneers (25-28) over third seed Wagner (18-33) in the winner's bracket game of the 2006 Akadema Northeast Conference baseball championship at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, NJ.

After stellar pitching from Wagner starter Andrew Bailey (Haddon Heights, N.J./Paul VI) and Aldrich through the first five and one half innings, the Pioneers broke it open with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Each pitcher faced just one batter over the minimum for the first five innings of the game and combined for seven strikeouts and each allowed just one hit.

In the sixth, Sacred Heart's Tim Lantz singled with one out and went to second on a single by David Kaloyanides. A double to deep right center fielder by Pete Kandybowicz scored both runners and a sacrifice fly by Bobby McKee gave the Pioneers the 3-0 lead. The RBI was the fifth for McKee in the first two games of the tournament.

In the bottom of the seventh with two outs, Sacred Heart shortstop Rob Tenzca homered down the right field line to up the Pioneer lead to 4-0.

The game was delayed for a passing thunderstorm at 1:32 p.m. for a total of 46 minutes.

Aldrich pitched 8.2 innings to pick up his sixth victory of the season (6-6). Bailey (3-1) struck out seven in 7.0 innings of work.

Junior Ed Sudol (Wallington, NJ / Wallington) went 2-4 to lead the Seahawk offense.

Sacred Heart will play at noon on Saturday afternoon while Wagner will play in an elimination game at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night vs. the winner of the 3:30 p.m. elimination game between Central Connecticut and Quinnipiac.