Salisbury, Md. – It took 12 innings but top-seeded Salisbury University posted a 6-5 victory over St. Mary's College of Maryland in the third round of the Capital Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament Saturday morning as first-year shortstop Joey Jones (Baltimore, Md./Eastern Tech) sent one out of the park to help the Sea Gulls avoid elimination.

The loss eliminates St. Mary's (19-16) from the tournament while Salisbury will face No. 2 seed Frostburg State University later today.  The season continues for the Seahawks on Tuesday, April 26 as they travel to Chestertown to take on Washington College at 3:00 pm.  St. Mary's will look to record its first 20-win season since 2004 with a win at Washington.

Through one inning of play, the Seahawks tallied a 2-1 lead as senior second baseman Matt Baden (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) scored on sophomore shortstop Corey Napier's (Leonardtown, Md./St. Mary's Ryken) single to centerfield.  Baden drew a base on balls and advanced to second on senior right fielder Mark Dattilio's (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) bunt single.  Dattilio then broke the 1-1 draw on an error by SU first-year second baseman John Schiotis (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman).

After tying the game at 2-2 in the second, Salisbury (21-10) claimed its second lead of the game, 3-2, in the top of the sixth inning as senior first baseman Dustin Herbert (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) singled to right field to score the inning's leadoff hitter, senior third baseman Brian Green (Salisbury, Md./Parkside).  Green started the inning with a double to center.

A three-run seventh inning allowed the Seahawks to post a two-run lead.  Baden's sacrifice fly to right field brought home senior first baseman Ian Simpson-Shelton (Upper Marlboro, Md./DeMatha) who led off the inning with a single down the right field line.  With bases loaded, junior third baseman Keith Johnson (Great Mills, Md./Great Mills) ripped a two-out single through the right side to score sophomore catcher Stefano Muscatelli (Warwick, R.I./Toll Gate) and Napier.

The Sea Gulls tied the contest up for the second time with a pair of runs of their own to head into the ninth, 5-5.  Sophomore RHP Devon Jerrard (Hunt Valley, Md./Boys' Latin) continued his solid pitching in the ninth as Salisbury was three-up, three-down with three fly-outs.  St. Mary's was unable to capitalize on back-to-back singles and a stolen base as the Seahawks left two on the base in the ninth.  Both teams were three-up, three-down in the 10th.

Salisbury loaded the bases in the 11th but did not produce a run until Jones' game-winning one-out homer in the 12th.  With the game on-the-line, the Sea Gulls' senior reliever Drew Baldwin (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) silenced the St. Mary's bats by sandwiching a strikeout between a ground-out and a line-out to preserve Salisbury's 6-5 victory.

Baldwin (2-2) picked up the win with 5.1 innings of work, fanning six Seahawks with one walk and yielding just two hits.  Jones, first-year Bill Root (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville), and junior catcher Tyler Bennett (Federalsburg, Md./Colonel Richardson) paced the Sea Gulls with three hits each while Jones drove in three runs.

Dattilio, Johnson, and Simpson-Shelton led the Seahawk offense two hits apiece as St. Mary's finished the game with nine hits to SU's 16.  Jerrard suffered the loss after coming in relief for senior starter Barrett Enix (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond-Suffolk Academy) for the final six innings of the game, striking out six, walking three, and allowing three runs on nine hits.