(Posted March 6, 2007)

ANTHEM, Ariz. - The Juniata College baseball team slugged its way to one victory, and used a ninth-inning rally to claim the other as the Eagles claimed a pair of victories in Anthem, Ariz. Tuesday afternoon. Juniata slugged past DeSales University 11-9 and rallied past Lake Erie by an 8-7 score to improve to 4-3 on the year. Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the ninth against Lake Erie, Juniata scored six times in the final frame to rally and claim the victory. The Eagles sent seven players to the plate in the inning and Lake Erie was unable to record an out in the frame. Greg Hoffman (Dulaney/Phoenix, Md.) started the frame with an RBI single. Cory Poff (Red Lion/Red Lion) followed with a pinch-hit double to bring in a run. Juniata then loaded the bases and Ben Yeager (Owen J. Roberts/Pottstown) singled home a pair of runs with another run coming home on a throwing error to tie the score at seven. The final run then came in on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt for the Eagles. Juniata had five hits in the inning. Tyler Brown (Southern Huntingdon/Orbisonia) pitched 1 1-3 innings of relief to earn the victory for Juniata. Tyler Clifford (Homer-Central/Homer City) started on the mound for Juniata and he went 7 1-3 inning, allowing five runs on five hits while striking out three. No Juniata player finished with more than one hit in the contest. In game two, the Eagles rode a five-run third inning to a commanding lead, and then claimed two critical insurance runs late in the game to top DeSales. After Juniata pushed across one run in the top of the first, DeSales countered with three runs off Juniata starter Paul Dunklebarger (State College/State College) in the bottom of the inning. But the Eagles took control in the top of the third with a five-run frame. Dan Kauffman (Penn Manor/Lancaster) collected the big blow of the inning when he drilled a grand slam to account for four runs. The Eagles added another three runs in the fifth, and then after DeSales pulled within two runs at 9-7 after pushing across two runs in the sixth and seventh, Juniata widened the margin to 11-7 with a pair of runs in the eighth. Kauffman again contributed as he had an RBI single. DeSales scored a pair of runs in the eighth to cut into the margin but could not get any closer. Dunklebarger went 6 1-3 innings to capture the victory for the Blue and Gold, his first win of the season. Kauffman finished the game 3-4 with six RBI. Juniata returns to action on Thursday with a single game against Beloit. ###

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