College Baseball: Keystone runs title streak to 19, falls in NCAA Tourney

Keystone College captured its 19 ^th straight conference baseball championship, then won one game in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Tournament before having its season end in consecutive losses.

The Giants swept Penn State-Harrisburg, the naton’s 11 ^th -ranked Division III team, 5-4 and 8-3 to claim the United East championship.

Darren Hagan, Sean Brennan and Jacob Yager all received All-Region honors for their roles in Keystone’s 34-13 season

Hagan, a junior outfielder, was a first-team choice for All-Region by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings. He batted .392 with six homers and 42 RBI.

Brennan, a starting pitcher, was a second-team choice by both. He was 7-3 and ranked 16 ^th in the country with 94 strikeouts while posting a 3.27 earned run average.

Yager, a junior first baseman, was a second-teamer, according to ABCA/Rawlings, and a third-teamer, according to D3baseball.com. He led the team with seven homers and 45 RBI while batting .394.

The Giants opened the NCAA Tournament with a 10-5 victory over Middlebury.

Brayan Villar worked seven innings to improve to 9-0.

Keystone led 3-1 after seven, then scored five runs in the top of the eighth before Middlebury answered with four in the bottom.

Nate Ewing went 5-for-5 and scored three runs while Justin Mann was 3-for-4 and drove in three runs.

The Giants had their season end when they lost to Misericordia 7-4 and in a rematch with Middlebury 11-6.

Misericordia, which at presstime had advanced to the national Final Four, trailed 3-2 before scoring five times in the seventh.

Robert Estrada led Keystone with two hits and an RBI while Yager had a hit and two RBI.

Yager was 2-for-3 with a homer in the loss to Middlebury in the regional, which was played at Misericordia’s field in Dallas.