Jordan English had three homers and five RBI, and Jeff Vigurs had a grand slam to lead Bryant to a 16-7 win over Delaware State at Soldier Field this afternoon. The Bulldogs pounded out 19 hits against three DSU pitchers.
Bryant’s offensive display overshadowed a six-RBI performance by Delaware State’s Justin Bittner, who had a grand slam and two-run double. Bittner was 2-for-4 in the contest, and has driven in 16 runs in the Hornets’ seven games. He is also batting .550 (11-for-20) for the season.
Bryant opened the scoring with four runs in the top of the first inning on the slam by Vigurs. The Bulldogs loaded the bases on a walk to Dylan Stone and infield singles by Nick Campbell and Pat O’Conner with one out. Vigurs followed with a shot over the left field fence off Hornet starter Dan Perkins (0-1) to clear the bases.
The Bulldogs scored single runs in the second and third innings to open up a 6-0 lead.
Delaware State scored four runs in the bottom of the third to climb back into the game. C.J. Bell started the rally with a one-out double. Troy Drummond reached on an error and Jose Sanchez walked to load the bases. Bittner followed with a blast over the left field fence off winning pitcher Kevin Cobb (1-0) to cut Bryant’s lead to 6-4. The slam was the second of Bittner’s career.
Bryant upped its lead to 8-4 when English hit a one-out homer and Stone had a run-scoring single in the top of the fourth. The Bulldogs added four runs in the fifth off DSU reliever David Langton to stretch their lead to 12-4. English hit his second homer of the game, and Stone singled in his second run in the fifth.
Bittner delivered the key blow in Delaware State’s three-run fifth inning. The Hornets had runners at first and second when Bittner drove both home with a double to right field to cut Bryant’s lead to 12-6, and tie his career high with six RBI in the game. He also knocked in six runs in a loss to Towson last season. Bittner later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ross Babineaux to make it a 12-7 game.
Babineaux was 3-for-3 in the game, and is batting .652 for the season (15-for-23).
Bryant closed out the scoring with two runs in the seventh and eighth innings. English accounted for the eighth-inning runs with his third homer of the game, a two-run shot to left field.
Bell also had two hits in three at-bats for the Hornets.
Delaware State fell to 4-2-1 this season, while Bryant won for the first time in three games.
The teams will wrap up the series with two seven-inning games on Sunday. The first game of the doubleheader gets underway at 12:00 p.m. at Soldier Field.