Goldey-Beacom was shut down by outstanding pitching in game one and could not complete a rally in game two as it was eliminated from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament with first-round losses, 6-1 and 10-7, to Jefferson at Doyle Field in Hockessin, DE.
The story in game one of the best-of-three series was the outstanding pitching of Jefferson's Jem Sisco (4-2), who struck out 12 over 6 1/3 innings that included eight consecutive in yielding just one run and one hit. Anthony Pillari followed with 2 2/3 scoreless relief innings, striking out six and permitting just one hit.
Chris McLean lined an RBI single in the first inning, Justin Espinal added a run-scoring double in the fourth and Josh Lopez crushed a solo homer in the sixth to give Jefferson a 3-0 lead.
Sophomore Kyle Walker (Wilmington, DE) continued his torrid play of late by getting an RBI single in the seventh, bringing the Lightning within 3-1. But Vince Barone all but ended things in the eighth by crushing a three-run homer for the final.
Junior Anthony DiMartino (Sicklerville, NJ) struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings for Goldey-Beacom, which entered as the No. 2 seed from the South Division.
A wild game two saw the Rams plate four in the top of the first, aided by Arturo Figueroa's two-run homer. The Lightning got three back in the last of the second to close within one, keyed by a two-run double from junior Mason Maxwell (Newfield, NJ).
Jefferson scored the next six runs for a 10-3 lead by the end of the fifth, highlighted by McLean's solo homer in the third and Ryan Sawyer's two-run double in the fourth.
The Lightning made things interesting in the sixth, plating four runs to get within 10-7. Maxwell had an RBI groundout, Walker crossed home on a wild pitch and freshman Braden Kolmansberger (Lewisberry, PA) laced a two-run double.
Goldey-Beacom had plenty of opportunities after that, but left the bases loaded in the seventh after already doing so in the fifth and brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth before again leaving the sacks juiced.
Walker again continued his prowess with four hits for the second time this season and ran his hitting streak to 18 games. Sophomore Demetrius Johnson (Glassboro, NJ) rapped three hits and freshman Tommy Federici (Swoyersville, PA) struck out five over four scoreless relief innings that kept the Lightning in it.
Sawyer closed with four RBI and Matt Bukavich (3-2) was outstanding out of the bullpen by striking out three over 2 2/3 innings for the Rams (26-19), the No. 3 seed from the South Division.
Goldey-Beacom (27-25, 18-6 CACC) has put forth yet another strong campaign in which it broke the school record for most wins and had a team-high 16-game home winning streak entering today. GBC was ranked ninth in both the NCAA East Region Rankings and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association East Region Poll entering today.
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