Box Score DOVER, Del. – The Salisbury University baseball team pounded out 11 hits in an 11-3 victory at Wesley College on Thursday afternoon.
The win, coupled with Frostburg State University's Thursday win against the University of Mary Washington, leaves Salisbury (17-9, 11-5 Capital Athletic Conference) in a first-place tie with the Bobcats with each team having two CAC games remaining.
On Thursday, the Gulls scored twice in the first inning to grab a quick 2-0 lead. Freshman Bill Root opened the game with a base hit, to extend his team-leading hit streak to six games. Classmate John Schiotis added another single before senior Brian Green hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Root. Junior Nick Walls had Salisbury's third single of the inning, plating Green for the two-run lead.
The Wolverines (15-14, 7-8 CAC) scored a run in the bottom of the first and after the Gulls scored twice in the third, Wesley tied the game in the bottom of the third, 3-3, with a pair of runs.
But Salisbury would score eight unanswered runs the rest of the way to roll to the win.
The Sea Gulls scored the game-winning run in the top of the fourth as sophomore Nick Gentry belted his first collegiate home run. Salisbury plated a pair of runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and put things out of reach with four runs in the eighth inning.
Junior catcher Tyler Bennett went 1-for-3 at the plate, but drove home three runs while Root, Walls and Gentry each had a pair of hits. Root and Schiotis and freshman Joey Jones each scored twice.
Senior Chris Greiner picked up the win, working seven innings while scattering three hits and allowing three runs, just one earned. The win was Greiner's fifth of the season as he struck out seven.
The teams will finish out their three-game series, and each team's CAC regular-season schedule, with a doubleheader at the SU Baseball Field on Saturday, April 9. The first game will begin at 1 p.m., with the Sea Gulls needing to pick up one more win than Frostburg State to lock up the top spot and home-field advantage throughout next week's CAC tournament.
