Dover (Mar. 10, 2009) --- Delaware State coughed up a four-run lead en route to an 8-7 loss to error-plagued Towson in college baseball at Soldier Field on Tuesday.

The Hornets dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 4-5-1 this season, while the Tigers won their fourth in a row to improve to 6-6.

Towson scored the go-ahead runs when Steve Yarsinsky snapped a 6-6 tie with a two-run double in the top of the sixth inning. 

Delaware State opened the scoring when Justin Bittner doubled with two outs and the bases empty, and Ross Babineaux followed with a run-producing single.

Towson tied the game on a two-out RBI single by Ben Winter in the top of the fourth.

The Hornets scored four runs on just two hits in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. Each Delaware State run in the inning was the result of a Towson error. The Tigers committed four miscues in the inning, and seven in the game. Babineaux led off the inning the inning with a single, and later scored on a throwing error by Towson pitcher Jeff Randolph with one out to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead. Delaware State opened up a two-run lead when Troy Drummond, who reached base on a bunt single, scored on an error by Tiger shortstop Chris Wychock. The Hornets stretched their lead to 5-1 when Wynton Weather and Brandon Crist scored on another Towson miscue with two outs.

Towson answered with five runs in their next at-bat to take the lead for the first time. Tigers pulled to within 5-3 when Gary Helmick walked to lead off the inning, and Kevin Collins followed with a home run. After Towson scored on ground out to pull to within 5-4, Steve Freinberg smacked a two-out, two-run blast over the left field fence to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead.

Delaware State tied the game on its next at-bat when Mike Rizzuto doubled with the bases empty and two outs, and came around to score on two wild pitches by Towson reliever Tyler Austin.

Down 8-6, the Hornets took advantage of more generosity by Towson n the last of the eighth inning. CJ Bell reached second when Towson shortstop Wychock committed two errors on a grounder with one out. After DSU's Jose Sanchez was hit by a pitch, Bell was chased home on a two-out single by Bittner to cut the Tigers' lead to 8-7. Towson got out of the inning when Sanchez was cut down at the plate on an attempted steal of home.

Babineaux singled to lead off the ninth inning for the Hornets, but Towson killed the threat with a game-ending double play.

Babineaux was 3-for-5 with a run batted in to up his average to .576 on the season (19-for-33). Bittner had two hits and knocked in a run in five at-bats. He's batting .516 this season (16-for-31) with a team-high 18 RBI.

Tyler (1-1) was the winning pitcher for the Tigers, while Mike Ingram (0-1) suffered the loss for the Hornets.

Delaware State returns to action on Saturday with a home doubleheader against Savannah State. Game one gets underway at 12:00 p.m.