DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University baseball team put a bow on the 2019 campaign with a doubleheader split with visiting College Of New Rochelle, and honored its seniors in between games.
The Aggies finish the year 13-25 overall and 7-14 in league games. The seven wins in conference play is the most for the program since the 2012 season. Today marked the final game in the careers of
James Eldridge,
Luke Hendricks,
Joe McGlade,
Hunter Mease, and
Evan Thorpe who were sent off ceremoniously by their teammates.
In game one, the Blue Angels (3-28) scored three runs in the top of the first on four hits and an error to take an early 3-0 advantage. Kendall Lanier drove in two as he sent a single into left field with runners on second and third.
DelVal was held without a hit for the first three innings, but did manage to get on the board in the bottom of the third thanks to a pair of walks and a passed ball that allowed
Timmy Lallis to score.
In the fourth, Hendricks made it a one-run game with a home run down the left field line that made it a 4-3 game.
The Aggies kept New Rochelle off the board and took the lead in the fifth when
Ryan Schuetrumpf delivered a single into center field that plated Lallis and Crooks to make it, 5-4. Later in the frame,
Josh Adamski came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a single through the left side that drove in
Cody Brown and Schuetrumpf to give DelVal a 7-4 lead after five.
The Blue Angels loaded the bases in the top of the sixth and Jared Edwards brought home two cut DelVal's deficit to one, 7-6. With nobody out,
Brendan Giampa came into relieve senior
Joe McGlade and got three pop outs to get out of the jam and hold the 7-6 lead for DelVal.
New Rochelle tied the game in the top of the seventh after a pair of walks and a wild pitch allowed the runner from third to score. Senior
James Eldridge came on to get the final two outs and send the game to the bottom of the seventh tied, 7-7.
Neal Flogel got the chance to play hero in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded and he capitalized. He drove a ball the other way, into right field, and
Matt DeLaRosa who was in as a pinch runner trotted home from third for the walk-off, 8-7, victory.
Adamski and Hendricks finished with two hits and two RBI apiece and Schuetrumpf drove in two with one hit. Three different players pitched in the game and Eldridge earned the win.
In game two, DelVal got out to a 2-0 lead with after the top of the first inning. DeLaRosa led off with an infield single and came around to score on a wild pitch and
Kevin Johnson picked up an RBI single when he plated Hendricks who was aboard with a base knock.
From there, the Blue Angels scored eight unanswered runs over six innings to go ahead, 8-2. Six different players picked up RBI singles including Jared Edwards and Jacob Villareal who each had two.
In the sixth, Mease came to the plate for the first time this season and sent a rope into the gap in left center for a single, but he was thrown out on a bang-bang play at second base trying to leg out a double.
Matt Huber followed with a single through the middle and later scored on an RBI single to center by
Tanner Moran. That concluded the 8-3 final, the doubleheader split, and the 2019 DelVal baseball season.
The Aggies had 12 hits in the second game – three from Hendricks, two from Johnson, and five other players had one including seniors Mease, McGlade, and Thorpe. Hendricks combined to go 5-for-7 with two RBI and two runs scored, and struck out the only batter he faced from the mound, in his final game.
On the mound, DelVal threw four different pitchers with Eldridge getting the start and striking out three in his last appearance.
