Delaware State Hornets Baseball Outlast Navy 13-8

DOVER, Delaware  --   Delaware State scored six times in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a one-run deficit in a 13-8 win over Navy at Soldier Field today. The Hornets trailed 8-7 before the eighth inning explosion.

Eddie Sorondo singled in the first two runs of the inning to give DSU a 9-8 lead. Charles Dailey and Cameron Onderko had run-scoring singles; and Chris Gonzalez drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the inning.

The Hornets opened the scoring on back-to-back doubles by Cameron Cecil and Aarron Nardone in the bottom of the first inning. Cecil was two-for-five with a double, while Nardone had two hits and a RBI in four at bats to give him a team high 34 runs batted in this season.

After Navy scored three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead, the Hornets answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning to pull back on top.

First baseman Chris Gonzalez had the big blow in the inning, a three-run blast over the fence in left field to give the Hornets a 4-3 lead. It was the first home run of his collegiate career. Gonzalez had a career-best four RBI in the game.

Sorondo added a two-run single for the Hornets in the second. He was two-for-three with four RBI in the contest.

After Navy scored a run in the fourth inning to pull to within 6-4, Mike Alexander led off the DSU fourth with his sixth homer of the season to give the Hornets a three-run lead.

The Midshipmen scored two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh off the Hornets’ bullpen to open up an 8-7 lead.

Onderko had four of DSU’s 18 hits, while six players collected two hits each.

Reliever Eric Sharff (5-3), the Hornets’ sixth pitcher of the game, threw 2.2 scoreless innings to earn the win.

Despite giving up eight runs, DSU pitchers did not allow an earned run due to five Hornet errors.  Travis Blue was two-for-four with three RBI, while Robert Currie had two hits and two RBI in four at bats for the Midshipmen.

Navy’s reliever Sam Sorenson (1-3) allowed two hits and three runs in 0.1 innings to take the loss.

The Hornets return to MEAC action with a three-game series at home against Norfolk State this weekend. The series at Soldier Field begins with a doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 26) starting at noon. The teams will wrap up the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. DSU leads Norfolk State by percentage points for first place in the MEAC North race.

DSU SEASON STATS

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COURTESY DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION