HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 25, 2021) – Michael Reyes collected five hits, three of which were home runs, in two games to help the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team earn a pair of victories over DeSales University Sunday, winning game one 7-5 and game two 11-4.

The Ducks improved their record to 19-8 overall and close regular season conference play having won five of the seven series they have played in as they currently sit in third place in the MAC Freedom standings.

The Bulldogs, who came into the day atop the conference, currently hold the second spot in the standings with an 18-7 record in conference play. DeSales currently has one game left on their schedule Wednesday against King's College. A win would give the Bulldogs the #2 seed in the tournament while a loss would send them down a spot and make the Ducks the #2 seed.

"We are just so proud of this team," head coach Kristaps Aldins said. "We put together a good day of baseball and are starting to really click on a variety of levels. One more tune-up this Wednesday against a very good York club as we prep for postseason play this weekend."

After being outscored 7-0 across the first two innings Saturday, it was Stevens who jumped out on top in a big way in the first game of the day with a four-run first inning.

With Brett Mendez on second after a leadoff single and Johnny Albrecht at second after being hit by a pitch, Ryan Wall continued his hot streak at the plate as he ripped a two-out RBI single into left to make the score 1-0.

One batter later, Reyes stepped to the plate and lifted the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field to clear the bases and push the lead to 4-0.

The score remained the same as starting pitcher Alex Smith faced the minimum over his first three innings on the hill but ran into some trouble in the fourth as the Bulldogs scored five in the inning to take the lead.

After Robert Lamm and Billy Scanlo both had RBI base hits to cut the lead in half, Smith was able to get a punchout for the second out of the inning with a pair on base and looked as if he would get out of the inning with limited damage.

That was not the case, however, as Hunter Spalt stepped to the plate and delivered a three-run bomb of his own to make the score 5-4.

Trailing by one in the bottom of the sixth, Chris Silos started the inning off with a leadoff double to center and advanced to third on a single off the bat of Mendez to put runners on the corners.

Two batters later, Thomas Paulich was able to give the Ducks the lead once again when he smoked a two-RBI triple down the left field line. Albrecht gave Stevens an insurance run when he scored Paulich two pitches later on a sacrifice fly.

After Jacob Buurman (2-0), who earned the win after tossing 1 1/3 effective innings of relief, gave up his first hit of the game in the sixth, the Ducks turned to closer Anthony Pron to close things out.

Pron allowed the first batter he faced to single into center but danced out of danger as he induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh, Pron found himself in danger once again after walking three batters to load the bases with two outs. Much as he as all season, though, the sophomore righty closed things out with a backwards K to seal the win and move his conference-best save total to seven.

Pron has now recorded a save against six of the seven teams the Ducks have faced this season and lowered his season earned run average to 1.06.

Mendez led the way for Stevens with two hits in game one with a pair of runs scored while five other student-athletes recorded one hit apiece.

Game two started in a similar fashion to game one as the Ducks jumped ahead early with a five-run second inning.

Albrecht and Silos both walked, and Reyes hit a single in the inning to load the bases with two outs for Ryan Finegan.

Starting his first game since March 13 against Delaware Valley, Finegan delivered in a big way with an RBI triple that landed right on the left-field line to clear the bases and make the score 3-0.

Mendez followed it up with an RBI single into center and Zuckerman reached on an error that allowed Mendez to score and push the lead to 5-0.

The Bulldogs responded with three in the top of the third highlighted by an RBI double from Gavin Zavors and a two-out RBI single by Billy Scanlo to cut the deficit to two.

Stevens, and more specifically Reyes and Wall, made sure the game would not get any closer than that in the bottom half of the inning as they ripped back-to-back solo bombs over the scoreboard in right field.

The scoring in the inning did not stop there as Nate Zuckerman ripped a single to the third baseman later in the inning with the bases loaded to score Silos and push the lead back to five.

It was Silos who tacked on two more to make the score 10-4 in favor of the Ducks in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single up the middle to plate Albrecht and Reyes.

In the bottom of the eighth with the score still 10-4, Reyes lifted his third home run of the day over the sidewalk beyond the right field wall and onto the covering of the parking lot.

The 11 runs were more than enough for Ryan Shea who earned the win on the hill after tossing 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, and striking out six to move to 4-0 on the season.

Out of the bullpen, three relievers were extremely effective on the hill as Eli Zuckerman, Buurman and Tyler Armstrong combined to not allow a single hit and strike out four over the final 3 2/3 innings to clinch the series win for the Ducks.

Stevens' relief pitching was phenomenal throughout the day as four different relievers tossed a total of 6 2/3 scoreless innings in the doubleheader.

Reyes went 4 for 5 with two RBI and four runs scored in game two while Wall, Silos and Finegan all had multi-hit games in the win. Reyes now sits second in the MAC Freedom with a .771 slugging percentage and fifth with a .396 batting average.

Regardless of what happens Wednesday for DeSales, Stevens has secured a top-three seed in the MAC Freedom Tournament. They will host either FDU-Florham or King's in a doubleheader on Saturday with the if-necessary game happening Sunday at the lower-seeded team.

Prior to the tournament, the Ducks will compete outside the conference for the first time this season on Wednesday as they take on York College (Pa.) on the road at 3:30 p.m.

Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics         
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
#AllRise