Dover, Del. (Mar. 4, 2020) ---Delaware State tallied season highs in runs and hits to defeat La Salle 9-5 at Soldier Field today. The Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 3-8, while the Explorers dropped their fourth in a row to fall to 4-6.
Mark Herron (sr.; Cortland, OH)smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to break a 5-5 tie and the Hornets added two insurance runs in the eighth to improve to 3-1 at home and snap a four-game losing streak to La Salle.
Herron also tripled in two runs in the fifth to give a personal-best four runs batted in as a Hornet.
Delaware State entered the game with a .179 team batting average, but collected season highs in hits (12), home runs (2), total bases (21) extra base hits (21) and single-game average (.324) in today's contest.
La Salle opened the scoring with a run in the of the third inning off Delaware Stater Mike Carrington (jr.; Dover, Del. ), but the Hornets answered in their next at when Miguel Rivera (jr.; Dover, Del.) walked with two outs and Jared Gillis (sr.; Middletown, Del.) followed by launching a 3-2 pitch from La Salle starter Mike Jenkins over the fence in left center for his first home of the season and seventh in his career to give DSU a 2-1 lead.
La Salle tied the game at 2-2 when Dylan Maria hit a solo shot off DSU reliever Greg Dorfman in the top of the fourth.

The Explorers tagged Dorfman for three more runs in the fifth to open up a 5-2 lead. The big blow in the inning was a two-run double by Tatem Levins, who scored the final run of the inning on a sac fly by Elijah Dickerson.
Delaware State responded with a three-spot of its own in the bottom of the fifth to tie the score. The rally started when Gillis reached base on a throwing error with one out. He later scored on another error to cut La Salle's lead to 5-3. There were two outs when Herron smashed a triple off the fence in right field to score Tyler Cunningham and Krew Bouldin and tie the game at 5-5.
The score was still tied when the Hornets came to bat in the seventh. Cunningham was hit by a pitch with one out when the left-handed Herron hit a blast over the 20-foot fence in left center off La Salle reliever Colin Kennedy to put SU ahead 7-5.
The Hornets added two runs in the eighth on a wild pitch and a single by Cunningham to close out the scoring.
Chandler Fitzgerald (sr.) pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit, while striking out two without a walk, to earn the win (2-0). He also lowered his season ERA to 2.35 with the performance.
DSU will return to action with a three-game series at home against Rhode Island this weekend. The Hornets and Rams will play a single game on Saturday (Mar. 7) starting at 1:00 p.m. and close out the series with a doubleheader on Sunday (Mar. 8) beginning at noon at Soldier Field.