HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 7, 2018)  – Senior Alex Detweiler hit a go-ahead three-run home run as part of a six-run eighth inning as the Stevens Institute of Technology Baseball team rallied to defeat Houghton College 7-3 Saturday to complete a sweep of the teams' Empire 8 Conference series.

The victory capped a wild two-day period as the teams completed their entire three-game series in a span of 28 hours, with Stevens earning two wins with late-inning heroics, including junior Donny Gherardi's two-run walk-off double Friday. Saturday's play began with the completion of the final four innings of Friday night's suspended game, followed by the regularly scheduled nine-inning contest. 

The sweep was the first of the season for Stevens, who finished the day at 16-11 and 9-3 in the Empire 8. The Highlanders fell to 9-10 on the year and 2-4 in conference play. The series was the first true road games of the year for Houghton.

"A very satisfying series for our team," said head coach Kristaps Aldins. "We battled hard all three games and, once again, we saw contributions from a wide array of our roster. As our season progresses, we will need guys to keep stepping up. I am happy for our team and look forward to another important game tomorrow against a talented Rutgers-Camden squad."

Trailing 3-1 in the eighth, senior Tommy Baronner worked a four-pitch walk off Victor Cavalieri (3-3) and the speedy leadoff hitter moved to second on a wild pitch. Gherardi singled up the middle to drive in a run. The Oradell, New Jersey product collected five hits and drove in seven during the series. Sophomore Patrick Rood kept the line moving with a single to right. Freshman Raymond Cortes III pinch-ran for Rood at first. Cavalieri fired a pitch out of the strike zone to Detweiler to begin the game-changing at-bat. The Houghton ace attempted to put a high fastball by the Stevens first baseman, but Detweiler hit a long home run, clearing the bases, giving the Ducks a 5-3 lead. Detweiler also had a fourth-inning solo blast of the left-hander. The two home runs were the first Cavalieri has given up this season. Detweiler has reached base in 26 of 27 contests this season and leads the conference with 28 runs batted in.

After second baseman Nicholas Melchiore moved to the mound in relief of Cavalieri, Stevens tacked on a pair of runs on a two-run single by junior shortstop Matthew Pasko.

Freshman Alex Smith (2-0) earned his second win of the weekend after throwing just one pitch in retiring Ben Closson on a comebacker to the mound. Senior Quinn DiPasquale allowed three earned runs in 7 2-3 innings, while striking out 11. It was the third double-digit strikeout performance of the season for the right-hander.

Prior to the 7-3 win, Stevens jumped out to an 8-3 lead and then held onn against a fiesty Houghton offense for an 8-7 win over the Highlanders in the completion of Friday's suspended game. 

Junior Carlos Leon and freshman Charles Kwong connected for back-to-back homers off Holden Deres (1-2) and Gherardi had an RBI triple to account for the Stevens offense over the first five innings. Tage Johnson and Ethan Duryea accounted for the Houghton offense with run-scoring singles as Stevens led 5-2 at the point of interruption. Sophomore Chandler Brierley struck out 10 over four innings, but didn't factor into the decision.

Play resumed Saturday in the sixth. Houghton tacked on a run on Taylor Huntsman's ground-rule double off Roy Iversen (3-0). Gherardi responded for Stevens with a long-two run homer off Griffin Tubbs to give Stevens a 7-3 lead and freshman Nathan Zuckerman plated an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI groundout.

Huntsman added to his RBI total with a double to right center and Johnson hit a three-run shot to center off freshman Joseph Detiz in the eighth to pull Houghton within one. Deitz struck out Duryea and induced a lineont to end the threat. 

Senior Drew Hanke worked around a pair of singles to strike out Closson on four pitches to strand the go-ahead run at second for his third save of the year.

Up Next: Baseball travels to Camden, New Jersey for a non-conference game with Rutgers-Camden at Campbell's Field. The Ducks topped the Scarlet Raptors 8-6 in 10 innings last season on a two-run walk-off home run by then-senior Michael Mule'.

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