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READING, Pa. – Every member of the Kutztown University baseball got into the game in one of the biggest stages it will play in all season.  KU put together an all-around team victory as it defeated Division III opponent Albright College, 9-5, Monday night at First Energy Stadium.
 
Dominick Ruscitti (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville-Newbaugh/Dominican College) (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville-Newbaugh) and Trent Mertz (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) were rewarded for a season worth of impressive pitching with some at-bats under the lights at the home of the Reading Phillies.  The senior duo each tallied their first career hit.  Ruscitti was an impressive 2-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored, as Mertz made the most of his pinch-hit opportunity in the fifth inning with a line drive to left field.
 
Fellow seniors Corey Buletza (St. Clair, PA/Pottsville) (St. Clair, Pa./Pottsville) and Shayne Houck (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) have been dominant hitters at the plate in their time at KU and got the chance to spend an inning on the mound late in the game.  Each player pitched for the first time in their career as Buletza tallied a strikeout while pitching the eighth inning and Houck closed the game out for KU with 28 pitches in the ninth.
 
Albright struck first with a first-inning run, but senior outfielder Brad Stoudt (Topton, PA/Brandywine Heights) (Topton, Pa./Brandywine Heights) gave KU the lead in the second inning that it would hold for the remainder of the game.  Stoudt drove a one-out triple to deep right center field to plate two runs.  Brandon Shurr (Bernville, PA/Schuylkill Valley) (Bernville, Pa./Schuylkill Valley) drove in Stoudt to give KU a 3-1 advantage after two.
 
Stoudt and Shurr teamed up again in the fourth inning as they accounted for three KU runs. 
 
Seven Golden Bear pitchers were used as the unit kept the Lions (13-27) off the board from the second to seventh innings.  Along with the pair of seniors, Damon Valloreo (Vincentown, N.J./Burlington CCC) (Vincentown, N.J./Burlington CCC), J.R. Seader (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway/ Maryland-Baltimore County) (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway), Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) (Ewing, N.J./Ewing), Billy Felo (Dauphin, PA/Central Dauphin/Chesapeake College) (Dauphin, Pa./Dauphin), and Gilbert Vega (Lancaster, PA/J.P. McCaskey) (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) let up just one run and three hits to take a great deal of momentum into the postseason.
 
Todd Rubendall (Collegeville, PA/Methacton) (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) went 3-for-3 at the plate.  He dropped a bunt with a man on third in the fifth inning and legged out the infield hit to score KU's seventh run.  Stoudt drove in Ruscitti in the fifth for his third RBI of the game as KU would close out the scoring with a Jason Henderson (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) RBI in the eighth.
 
Seven Albright players got hits, but no Lion had a multi-hit game.  It had seven strikeouts as a team as Alex Myers started for AC and let up six runs – three earned – in 3.1 innings on the mound.
 
Monday was the Golden Bears' final tune up before they take on Gannon University on Wednesday in the opening game of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships in Butler, Pa.