Lakewood, NJ – Sophomore Chuck Nicholas (Boyertown, Pa.) allowed just one run through eight innings and Alvernia University pounded out 12 hits en-route to a 10-1 win over Montclair State University in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament at FirstEnergy Park on Thursday afternoon.

The seventh-seeded Crusaders (27-16) staved off elimination and will face the loser of the Kean University/The College of New Jersey match-up on Thursday at 10 a.m.  Third-seeded Montclair State University (26-19) closed out the season appearing in the program's 27th NCAA Tournament.  

Alvernia scored in five of the first six innings taking a 10-0 lead and Nicholas set down 10 straight Red Hawks beginning in the second inning, four of them on his own with four of his five strikeouts on the day.

With two out and no one on in the bottom of the first, junior catcher Steve Bealer (Boyertown, Pa.) started a string of six straight two-out hits that led to an early 4-0 lead for the Crusaders.

Bealer's double to the left center gap was followed by a Chuck Krichling (Chesterfield, N.J.) double to the same spot. Junior Steve DeBarberie (Drexel Hill, Pa.) followed with a triple to the other gap, and Chris Stoudt (West Lawn, Pa.) delivered with a single to right.

Mike Latona (Sinking Spring, Pa.) kept it going with a single up the middle and Tim Ahlquist (Millville, N.J.) drove in the fourth run with an infield single.

In the second inning, Stoudt drove in two more runs with a single to left center to extend the lead to 6-0.   Ahlquist hit a solo homerun in the third inning, before Alvernie tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning on a RBI groundout by sophomore Tyler Runkle (Red Lion, Pa.) and when junior Steve Bealer (Boyertown, Pa.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Alvernia closed out its scoring in the sixth inning when DeBarberie led off the inning the a solo homerun.

The Red Hawks scored their lone run of the game on back-to-back pinch hits, as junior JOSEPH ZEMBRYSKI (Rutherford, N.J.) doubled and would score one batter later on a RBI single by sophomore MIKE ERCOLANO (Vernon, N.J.).

The three through eight hitters in the Alvernia lineup all had multi-hit games led by Stoudt who finished 3-for-4 with a run and three RBIs. Bealer, Kriching, and DeBarberie were all 2-for-4 with two runs scored and DeBarberie drove in a pair. Ahlquist was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs and made a team-high six assists at second base.

Montclair had seven different players collect one hit each, including pinch hits by Zembryski, Ercolano and sophomore MICHAEL KAMINSKI (Neshanic Station, N.J.).  

Sophomore Austin Rohrbach (Maxatawny, Pa.) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth the end the game for Alvernia, while MSU sent six different players to the mound through eight innings.