Felician Athletics - 2/17/07 BASEBALL - DiBenedetti Tiebreaking Slam Carries Felician, 9-4

PRINCE GEORGE, Va. – Sophomore outfielder Vinnie DiBenedetti (Forked River, NJ) broke a 3-3 tie with a ninth-inning grand slam homerun, leading Felician College to a 9-4 non-conference baseball victory over Bluefield State College on Saturday afternoon at Prince George High School.

Felician (2-0) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth on three walks by Bluefield State relievers. DiBenedetti then blasted his second homer of the game over the left-centerfield fence. The Golden Falcons rallied again, and would score twice more in the inning on a two-run single by Chris Flynn (Keyport, NJ). Right-hander Jeff Calabrese (Freehold, NJ) (1-0) earned the victory by recording the final two outs of the eighth inning.

Golden Falcon starter Kevin Ernst (Manalapan, NJ) tossed five shutout innings despite the no-decision, allowing three hits and striking out six. Felician tied the game with two runs in the eighth inning on a Frank Quintana (Miami, FL) run-scoring single and a Ray Rose (Piscataway, NJ) sacrifice fly.

DiBenedetti, who also homered to lead off the game, finished 3 for 5 with five runs batted in, and Quintana was 4 for 5 with three stolen bases. T.J. Riggs (Andersonville, TN) was 2 for 3 with a double for the Big Blues (2-4).