Wilkes-Barre, PA (April 24, 2015) – The DeSales University baseball team trailed 10-1 after five innings and 13-4 after six innings but the Bulldog bench jump started the entire team as DSU scored 12 runs over the final three innings to earn a miraculous 16-14 comeback win at Wilkes University in Freedom Conference action on Friday afternoon.
 
The win moves the Bulldogs (20-12, 14-2) up two games on Misericordia University for the race to earn the top seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament in two weeks.  DSU has five games left, two on Saturday vs. Wilkes, two on Sunday at Delaware Valley, and one on Wednesday vs. Misericordia.  The Bulldogs can clinch that spot if they win four games this weekend (Sat. vs. Wilkes and Sun. at Delaware Valley).
 
The win is also the sixth straight for DeSales and the 10^th in DSU's last 11 games and gives head coach Tim Neiman and the Bulldogs their 16^th straight 20+ win season.
 
No one believed this comeback was a reality in the seventh as Wilkes led 13-4 and only two starters remained in the lineup for DeSales.  The bench on the other hand had other ideas.
 
The Bulldogs showed some life in the top of the sixth inning when junior Carlos Urena tripled home two runs and scored as DSU cut the lead to 10-4 but Wilkes (16-16, 10-9 Freedom) immediately answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning as the game moved to the seventh inning.
 
Sophomore Richie Lancashire opened the seventh with an innocent single and sophomore Michael Hronich drew a walk.  Sophomore Tyler Sweeney then stepped to the plate and laced a triple down the right field line scoring two runs to make it 13-6.
 
Senior Nick Fischer was hit by a pitch and after a pitching change sophomore Jesse Smoot singled scoring Sweeney and freshman Conner Lafferty walked to load the bases for Urena.  Urena continued to swing a hot bat, knocking in two more runs with a double down the left field line to make it 13-9 and Lafferty scored on a sacrifice fly from junior Chris Rubin to make it 13-10 before the side was retired.
 
Sophomore Tyler Cooperman entered the game on the mount and produced a very important shutdown inning working around a one-out walk sending the Bulldogs back to the plate.
 
Sweeney started the inning this time with a base hit and Fischer followed with a single thru the right-side.  Smoot then knocked them both home with a triple cutting the deficit to just one and Lafferty tied the game with a single up the middle scoring Smoot.
 
Another hit by Urena and a walk by Rubin loaded the bases with nobody out.  After the Colonels got junior Carrington Santana to strike out, Lancashire came thru again with a two-run single giving DSU its first lead of the game, 15-13.
 
WU got one run back in the bottom of the eighth when a runner scored on a wild pitch on a strike out but that was it as junior Evan Fraser struck out the final two hitters of the inning to work out of a bases loaded one out jam.
 
DSU got that run back in the ninth, taking advantage of an error on the Colonels as Smoot reached base on a strikeout wild pitch and moved to second on a throwing error on the catcher.  With Lafferty at the plate, Smoot scampered to third on another wild pitch and then scored as Lafferty recorded his third hit of the night.
 
Fraser then recorded his seventh save of the season in the ninth retiring the side in order to preserve an incredible comeback win for the Bulldogs.
 
Cooperman earns the win pitching 1 1/3 innings of solid relief and Fraser punched out four in his 1 2/3 innings of work.
 
Sophomore Tommy DePaul had two hits before he left the game and Lafferty (3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs) and Urena (4-for-6 with two runs and four RBIs) also had good days in the starting lineup.
 
The bench was the story however as Lancshire had two hits and two RBIs, Sweeney had two hits, scored twice, and had two RBIs, Fischer scored three runs, and Smoot finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs, and Rubin had two key AB's during the rally.
 
These same two teams will be back in action on Saturday to wrap-up its weekend three-game set with first pitch in game one set for 1:00 pm.  The games will both be televised on Service Electric TV-2 Sports Live locally on channel 2 (SD) or 502 in high definition.