DANVILLE, Va. - The Shenandoah University baseball team kept its USA South Tournament championship hopes alive Thursday morning with a 2-0 victory over fifth seeded NC Wesleyan in the first losers bracket contest at Dan Daniel Park.

Shenandoah (22-19) now moves on to face the winner of the Greensboro/Chowan contest tomorrow morning at 10:00.

NC Wesleyan (21-17) is eliminated from the tournament with the loss. The Bishops entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and lost their opener to No. 4 Methodist Wednesday afternoon.

Sophomore Keith Fritz (Urbana, Md./Frederick CC) pitched his club into the next round by tossing a four-hit shutout. Fritz walked two and struck out six in throwing the first shutout of his SU career and his team leading fifth complete game of the spring. He is now 7-3 on the season.

SU got all of the offense it would need in the sixth when the Hornets combined two hits with two Bishops errors to score a single run. With one out, shortstop David Jenkins (Front Royal, Va./Warren County) singled to right and advanced to third on Adam Kuchemba's (Plains, Pa./Coughlin) single to left.

Jenkins then trotted home when Wesleyan threw away a pick-off attempt on Kuchemba at first base. Kuchemba advanced to second on the play and third on a second Bishops error, but was left stranded 90 feet from home place when Tyler Daniel (Richmond, Va./JR Tucker) popped to first.

Kuchemba eventually got that insurance run for the Hornets, but it took until the ninth. He led off with a double to right and scored on a Mike Arvizo (Palmdale, Calif./Antelope Valley) single to right. Kuchemba finished the day 3 for 3 with a run scored.

A complete box score and play by play for this game can be found at http://www.su.edu/athletics/bb/2004/041504.htm