BALTIMORE, Md. --- The Delaware State baseball team picked up a 13-9 nonconference win over University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on Wednesday.
 
As both teams battled early on for supremacy, the Retrievers posted an early 5-4 lead after the front third of the game.
 
In the top of the fourth inning trailing a run and the bases loaded, Trey Paige blasted his team-leading 10th home run of the season over the left field wall. His grand slam not only gave Delaware State an 8-5 lead but allowed Paige to become the most recent Hornet to record back-to-back double-digit home run seasons since Abe Eubanks did so in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
 
UMBC crawled back into the game in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game at 8 through four complete frames.
 
With the game still tied after a scoreless fifth inning, Krew Bouldin put the lead back in the Hornets' favor once and for all with a two-RBI home run over the left field fence for a 10-8 contest after six solid stanzas.
 
Jancarlos Colon and Evan Bouldin added a pair of insurance runs for Delaware State in the top of the seventh. Colon drilled an RBI single to the gap in right center to score Alec Rodriguez from second base. Bouldin then ripped a triple down the left field line that gave Colon plenty of time to motor all the way home from first and extend the lead up to 12-8.
 
Rodriguez sealed the game with a solo home run of his own in the top of the ninth giving the Hornets a five-run advantage with three outs left in the game.
 
The Retrievers plated a run in the bottom of the ninth but a four-run deficit would be as close to the lead as they would get before Brandon Hatch slammed the door on a possible comeback and sealing the win for his team.
 
Delaware State's offensive outburst was a team effort throughout the whole game. Jordan King led the Hornet hit column with a game-high three base knocks while also driving in a run. Evan Bouldin recorded a pair of hits and a pair of free passes to first base and drove in one run in the win. Chris Amparo collected an extra base hit of his own after recording a double in the top of the eighth inning.
 
Paige drove in a game-best four RBIs all coming from his round tripper back in the fourth inning while Krew Bouldin's pair of RBIs came from his two-run home run in the sixth.
 
On the mound freshman pitcher Amari Gordon was credited with his first collegiate win after taking the hill for 2.2 innings of relief. As Gordon faced just 10 batters during his outing, he only surrendered one hit and one walk and did not allow a run to score on his watch.
 
Delaware State returns home for a three-game series in Northeast Conference (NEC) competition with familiar foe Coppin State University. The final series of the 2023 regular season at Bob Reed Field is set to open Friday with a first pitch time of 3 p.m.