Friday, May 21, 2004
 
Methodist Eliminates York in NCAA Baseball Regional
Monarchs Rally For 7-6 Victory

Martinsville, VA – Methodist (NC) College rallied from a four-run deficit to register a 7-6 win over York (PA) College in game 4 of the NCAA Baseball Regional Friday. Fifth-seeded Methodist (28-18) advances to Saturday’s game 8, and will face either #2 Salisbury or #4 Mary Washington in another elimination bracket contest. York, seeded sixth in the regional, ends its season with a 28-18 mark.
 
York scored once in the third and three times in the fourth inning to build an early 4-0 lead. Mike Welch’s RBI double scored Jeff Moore with the opening run, while Rajiv Subramanian’s two-run single was the key hit for the Spartans in the fourth. Justin Heller also added an RBI single in the frame, scoring Subramanian.
 
Methodist rallied with six runs in the middle three frames. Allen Kent’s sacrifice fly scored Matt Klecknor, who had doubled, with the first run for the Monarchs in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Blake Maxwell’s two-run home run, his fifth round-tripper of the year, pulled MC to within 5-3 after five innings. Methodist then chased York starter and loser Scott Day (6-2) with three runs in the home half of the sixth. David Hoffman had an RBI double and later scored the game-tying run when the shortstop mishandled Blake Maxwell’s grounder.  Jay Lucas also scored on the play with what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
York nearly rallied in the top of the ninth inning. The Spartans pulled to within one as Moore doubled and scored two hitters later on a double-play ball. The Spartans had the game-tying run at third base with two outs in the person of Brian Bednarczyk, who had singled and moved up on another infield single and the double-play ball. MC’s Maxwell, who came on in relief of starter Eric Autry (6-2) in the ninth, recorded his school-record 12th career save when York’s Jeff Young grounded to short to end the game.
 
Hoffman (3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI), Maxwell (2-for-5, 3 RBI) and Kleckner (2-for-4) led Methodist’s 12-hit offense.

Andy Puglisi (solo HR), Chad Hockenjos and Heller each finished had two hits apiece for York.
 
 
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