Drew Baseball Pulls Out One-Run Win

MADISON, N.J. - Drew finally won a tight one.  John Minio's sac fly brought home Dante LaPenta to cap a late rally in Drew's 8-7 win over Albright at Doc Young Field.  LaPenta, who was 4-5 on the day, had doubled to lead off the ninth as the Rangers scored in each of the final five innings.  Drew (5-23) got two hits from Zack Bircks who also picked up the win by throwing a perfect ninth. 

The Lions took an early 4-0 lead by the end of the third inning with Casey Lawrence's home run the big blow.  Drew began to chip away, scoring one in the fifth as Andrew Baxter drove in Tom Sharp with an RBI single.  Ben "The Bulldog" Lynch settled down to put up three zeroes in the middle frames for the Rangers.

The Rangers got two more in the sixth as LaPenta and James Soldo each singled with one out.  LaPenta scored on Minio's first RBI of the game and Soldo came in on Andrew Imperiale's productive ground out.  Drew gave one back in the top of the seventh before the Rangers tied it up in the bottom half.  Tom Sharp, who went 2-3 with three runs scored on the day, walked to start the rally.  Bircks singled and after an out Nixon Feliz walked to load the bases for LaPenta.  The senior drove in a pair with a single to tie the game at 5-5. 

Drew again gave back the runs as they let the Lions score twice in the eighth, but again the rallied in the bottom half.  Imperiale walked and Matt McGrath singled to lead off the inning.  With Gio Mancini pinch running for McGrath, the Rangers scored a pair of runs on singles from Sharp, Bircks and Nixon Feliz to knot the game at 7-7.

After a perfect ninth from Bircks on the mound, the seniors scored the winning run for the Rangers.  LaPenta finished off his stellar day with a lead off double; James Soldo's textbook sac bunt got LaPenta to third and John Minio drilled the first pitch he saw deep to left field.  The Lion leftfielder contemplated letting it drop as LaPenta was sure to score on the tag-up, but the ball stayed on the fair side of the line for a game winning sac fly. 

It's been a while since the Rangers pulled out a tight game, but this one was a nice respite on a beautiful day at Doc Young Field.  The Rangers will look to keep the one game winning streak going as they have a pair of doubleheaders this weekend.  First, they travel to Cooperstown to face Widener twice and then host NY Maritime on Sunday.