York, Pa. – The sixth-seeded St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team fell just shy of pulling the upset in the first round of the double-elimination 2014 Capital Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament Wednesday afternoon. Top-seeded York College of Pennsylvania escaped with a 7-6 victory over the Seahawks.

As the No. 1 seed, York will serve as the host site for the CAC championship weekend. St. Mary's (18-18) will now face fifth-seeded Wesley College on Friday, April 18th at 9:00 a.m. Wesley fell 4-3 to second-seeded Salisbury University. During the regular-season, Wesley and the Seahawks split their March 9th doubleheader.

St. Mary's (18-18) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning behind sophomore Connor Goodie's (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun) first career double, scoring senior Kenny Beyer (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) who got hit by junior Dan Gurganus (Prince Frederick, Md.) to lead off the inning. First-year Zach Rowe (Annapolis, Md./Calvert Hall) laid down a sac bunt to bring home Goodie.

The Seahawks stretched their lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the third as junior Jared Eaker (Mechanicsville, Md./Leonardtown) scored on an error after leading off the inning with a walk. Junior captain Luke Green (Bowie, Md./DeMatha) put down the team's fourth bunt of the game, allowing junior Brandon Eady (Bowie, Md./DeMatha) to come home after reaching with a bunt single.

York (21-5), who is ranked 24th in Division III, responded with two in the bottom of the third on junior Derek Pitzer's (York, Pa.) two-out, two-RBI single down the right field line. The Spartans claimed their first lead of the game with a four-run sixth inning.

With bases loaded, St. Mary's got one back in the eighth to pull within 6-5 as Beyer scored during a double play after leading off with an infield single. The Spartans went back up by two in their half of the eighth with a single run off a sac fly.

The Seahawks attempted a rally in the ninth but a double play cut it short. Junior Brad Dioguardo (Owings Mills, Md./Franklin) reached on an error, went to second on walk, and advanced to third on a wild pitch before crossing home plate on a ground out. With runners on the corners, York turned its third double play of the game to preserve the win.

Dioguardo and Goodie paced the Seahawks at the plate with two hits apiece while senior captain Sam Beatty (Columbia, Md./Hammond) saw his five-game win streak halted. Beatty (6-3) went 6.0 innings, yielding six runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Five Spartans finished the game with two hits while Pitzer and first-year Scott Steffy (Downingtown, Pa.) each notched two RBI. Gurganus improved to 6-0 on the season, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits in 7.0 innings with four K's and four walks. Senior Dan McNamara (Southampton, N.J.) collected his second save of the season as McNamara pitched 0.2 scoreless and hitless innings.

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