Baseball

Delaware Valley 9, Lebanon Valley College 7

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - The Delaware Valley College baseball team assured itself of a 10th consecutive non-losing season as the Aggies came from behind to down visiting Lebanon Valley, 9-7, in a non-conference game.

With the win, Delaware Valley improved to 18-17 on the year with one contest remaining, a non-conference home game with Gwynedd-Mercy College on Tuesday. The Flying Dutchmen fell to 14-22 with the loss.

The Aggies trailed by as many as three runs on a pair of occasions and were still down 6-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh when they notched five runs off of five hits. John Persicketti and Zach Jakubowski led off the inning with back-to-back singles and each moved up a base on Steve Kinney's sacrifice bunt. Charlie DiNolfi then tied the contest with a two-run single to center.

Kyle Bobb followed with a single as DiNolfi advanced to third on the play. Pinch-hitter Joel Porambo stepped to the plate and hit a triple to the right field fence that brought home both Bobb and DiNolfi for an 8-6 Aggie advantage. Following a walk to George Higginson, Mike Gargiulo grounded out to short but Porambo scored on the play for the fifth run of the inning.

Lebanon Valley got one run back in the top of the eighth as John Mentzer drilled his second home run of the game. The Flying Dutchmen then brought the tying run to the plate after a one-out single by Brandon Stoothoof, but Persicketti got the next two batters out to end the threat. Senior Nick Rozdliski then retired Lebanon Valley in order in the ninth for his first save of the season.

Delaware Valley hit the scoreboard in the first as Gargiulo led off with a double and later on an RBI by Persicketti. However, the Flying Dutchmen responded with four runs in the third, including Mentzer's three-run shot over the left field fence.

The team then traded runs in their next at-bats as Persicketti's RBI single brought home Gargiulo in the third for the Aggies and Alex Morrison knocked in a run for Lebanon Valley in the fourth. Delaware Valley picked up a pair of tallies in the fifth a wild pitch and a bases loaded walk to Zach Jakubowski, while Travis Smart had a sacrifice fly in the seventh to give the Flying Dutchmen a 6-4 lead.

Gargiulo, who batted .560 last week, continued his stellar play by going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. Persicketti went 3-for-4 with two RBIs while improving to 5-2 on the mound. Bobb, DiNolfi and Jakubowski had two hits on the day.

Mentzer finished 2-for-3 with the two home runs and four RBIs. Bert Malloy (2-for-3) and Alex Morrison (2-for-4) had multiple-hit games as well.