Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Kevin Langhauser (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) went 5-for-5 to tie the school record for hits in a game as the Gettysburg College baseball team closed out its 2009 season with a 13-4 non-conference victory over Juniata College Wednesday afternoon at Kirchhoff Field.

With the win, Gettysburg's third in as many days, the Bullets conclude the year with a 17-21 record.

Coming off a 3-for-4, four-RBI, two-triple performance one day earlier against Catholic, Langhauser followed up with another stellar day at the plate, finishing with five RBIs, three runs scored, and a pair of doubles, including a three-run shot that broke the game open in the seventh.

Langhauser is the first Bullet to collect five hits since junior Mike Backus (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata) in 2007. Six others have also achieved the feat.

Only one run was scored over the first six and a half innings before the bats came to life, as the two teams combined for 16 runs on 13 hits the rest of the way. Trailing 4-2 at the seventh-inning stretch, Gettysburg broke it open with 11 runs over the next two innings, including a seven-run seventh.

Backus finished 2-for-4 with two runs for the Bullets while sophomores Cam Riera (Medway, Mass./Medway), Chris Simard (Lexington, Mass./Belmont Hill), and Matt Karis (Southborough, Mass./Noble & Greenough School) scored two runs apiece.

Gettysburg's four seniors played their final game for the Bullets, and all four made a positive impact. Will Kleva (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) threw five strong innings, holding Juniata (13-22) to one run on four hits while striking out a career-high seven despite coming away with a no-decision. In addition, Scott Vladyka (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) singled to end his career on an eight-game hitting streak while Sam Stabert (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) and Pat Hanley (Buffalo, N.Y./Nichols School) both had pinch-hit singles.

Ian Thorne led Juniata, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Andrew Kriss was 2-for-4.

Kleva was nearly perfect in the early going, retiring 10 of his first 11 batters and striking out five along the way. But Juniata broke through in the fourth, getting three straight one-out singles to take a 1-0 lead. However, Kleva blanked the Eagles in the fifth and put a stamp on his career by striking out a batter looking with a runner on second to end the inning.

Juniata starter Marty Hauck was equally impressive, shutting out the Bullets through five. But he ran into trouble in the sixth, when Stabert drove in a run with a ground ball that came to stop on the chalk halfway down the third base line with two outs. The Eagles threw the ball away at third, allowing a second run to score as Gettysburg went up 2-1.

Juniata went in front 4-2 after a three-run, three-hit seventh against Karis, who was making his first relief appearance of the season, before the Bullets erupted with their big inning. Junior Craig Barrows (Whippany, N.J./Whippany Park) got it started with a pinch-hit walk before Hanley came through with his fifth pinch hit of the season, ripping a single down the leftfield line. Riera then reached on a sacrifice bunt when the throw to third was too late, and a wild pitch made it 4-3. Simard drew a walk to load the bases, prompting a pitching change. But Backus greeted reliever Chad Kulik with an RBI-single through the right side, and after a run scored on an error, Langhauser blasted his bases-clearing double. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-4.

Langhauser helped seal the deal in the eighth, driving in two more runs with a bases-loaded single through the left side. Freshman Eric Williams (Bradenton, Fla./St. Stephens) then drove in a run with his first collegiate hit, a single to center, before Langhauser scored on another wild pitch to close the scoring.

Karis (5-3) came away with the victory, giving up three runs on six hits over four innings while striking out five. Hauck (1-4) was charged with the loss, yielding six runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks.