Baseball 2/28/2012 8:13:00 PM Joy Zazzera, Sports Information Director

Gottfried Delivers Bottom of the Ninth Game Winner

Arcadia Notches 9-8 Come Back Victory over Eastern in Home Opener

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Photo Gallery (Arcadia)
Photo Gallery (Eastern)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.: With the score locked at 8 aside, Arcadia senior Marc Gottfried delivered a one-out, bases loaded, game winning single through the right side bringing junior Jerry Smith across home plate to give the Knights a well-deserved and hard-fought 9-8 victory over visiting Eastern University in today's non-conference baseball game at Erny Field.

Today's home opener for Arcadia saw the team battle back from an early 4-0 deficit. The Knights finally got the score tied at 6 after the sixth inning, forging ahead by a run after the seventh, but the Eagles homered and scored on an error at home plate in the top of the eighth leaving not much time for Arcadia to make another comeback.

Knight's sophomore Justin Simpson drilled a deep single to center field in the bottom of the eighth bringing home the game-tying score, and Gottfried, who swapped his position as the starting second basemen to become the relief pitcher, tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth before finding a pitch he liked in the bottom of the frame to win the game.

With today's first win of the season, Arcadia improves to 1-2 overall. The Eagles drop to 1-2 overall.

The Eagles went right to work in the first, picking up three runs on two hits and two errors. Arcadia could only muster up two base-runners in the first two innings while Eastern added a fourth run in the top of three. Arcadia began their comeback with two outs away in the bottom of the third. Eastern starting pitcher Gary Moses gave up a long drive through the left side to Arcadia senior Mark Bowman, walked Smith and then gave sophomore Pat Kwiatkowski a pitch he sent through the right side, a two-run single, to get Arcadia on the scoreboard.

Leading 4-2, Eastern's top hitter Greg DeSarro delivered a top of the fourth, two-run double to centerfield allowing the Eagles to regain their four-run advantage, 6-2. That's how the scoreboard would read until the Knights exploded for a four-run sixth inning.

Eastern had retired Moses for Ryan Chenault after one batter faced in the fourth and Eagle's head coach Matt Midkiff went to his bullpen again for Matthew Martin to start the bottom of the sixth. Martin fanned Arcadia senior Kyle Jackson to start the frame but it was all downhill from there for the first year lefty. He walked senior Sean Morris, gave up a single through the left side to sophomore Jay Zehring, followed by an RBI single to left from sophomore David Jacobs. Gottfried would reach on a fielder's choice as Jacobs was caught out at second but Martin followed with another walk, this time to Bowman to load the bases. Batting in the three-hole, Smith made the most of the opportunity presented to him and drilled the Knight's first triple of the young season, a three-run shot to deep, left center that tied the game at 6 aside.

First year Steve Sciortino, who entered for starting pitcher Jordan Hofferman after three and one-third innings, got some help from his defense in the top of the seventh. Eastern used a pair of singles through the left side to put two men on, but forced two fly-outs to center and a ground out to escape the inning unscathed.

Arcadia got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh when Kwiatkowski scored on a wild pitch. The Knights 8-7 lead didn't last long. After a fly-out to center and a pop up to the catcher, Eastern's Dave Prager drilled his third home run in as many games, a monstrous shot over the right field fence to lock the game back up at 8-8. Eastern's five-hole hitter Kristian Cortizo kept the momentum going with a single to center, while DeSarro reached on an error at short, forcing Arcadia head coach Ken Spangenberg to make a move on the mound, swapping Sciortino for Gottfried. The Eagles managed to tack on an unearned run shortly afterwards but Gottfried got his squad out of the inning, as Eastern stranded a pair of runners.

Gottfried fanned one more batter in the top of the eighth in a 1-2-3 inning for Arcadia and then the Knights brought out their game-winning bats. Eastern changed up their battery, going to their fifth hurler, John Taylor and catcher Eric Smith but in the end it didn't prove successful. Jackson got things started for the Knights, ripping a double to left center and shortly advanced to third when Zehring connected on a single through the left side. Hoping to turn the double-play, Eastern intentionally walked junior Nick Petroski to load the bases setting the stage for Gottfried to bring home Jackson on the game-winning run.

Today's win provided Spangenberg with his first collegiate victory as a head coach. "The coaching staff couldn't be more proud of the fight this team has shown thus far," noted Spangenberg, following today's victory. "We are obviously thrilled with today's outcome, but at the same time we understand that there is a long road ahead of us...we didn't dedicate ourselves in the off-season to be satisfied with one win. The coaching staff is very excited to see the heights this team can reach."

Arcadia was led by a 3 for 5 performance at the dish from Zehring, a one for four showing with 3 RBI and 1 run from Smith while Kwiatkowski and Gottfried each finished 1 for 5 with an RBI and one run scored.

Gottfried earned the win in his second appearance of the season, with no hits, no runs allowed, one walk and two fanned through one and one third innings of work. Taylor was tagged with the loss for Eastern allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 1 strike-out in one-third inning.

The Knights travel to Diamond Nation in Flemington, NJ to take on the Royals of the University of Scranton this Sunday, March 4. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12 Noon.

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