WYOMING, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team completed a season sweep of Aquinas College with a 6-4 win at Kimble Field on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action. The former Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference foes played earlier this season with Davenport winning 11-8 on March 26. DU beat the Saints with some early runs and then held on to win in the ninth inning.

How It Happened: Davenport jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two innings. Gaetano Vallone took the mound for the Panthers and would pick up his first collegiate win (1-1). He tossed three innings of one-hit ball and allowed two runs with three walks and four strikeouts. The pitching staff struck out 18 batters to set a season-high.

The Panthers scratched across a run in the first as Jacob Buchberger led off with a double. He then took third on a wild pitch which was also strike three against Noah Marcoux. Marcoux made it to first and then stole second as Buchberger stole home for the 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, DU added three runs to take a 4-0 lead. Alex Huard and Dylan Watson had back-to-back singles and Darren Rydzewski walked to load the bases. Buchberger lined a sharp single to left for a 2-0 lead. Nolan Bryant hit a sacrifice fly and a double play was converted as Rydzewski was caught in a pickle. Marcoux then hit a two-out RBI single to center as Buchberger scored the fourth run.

Aquinas cut the lead in half in the third as Grant Smitz hit his first home run of the season to left center. Luke LaLumia tossed a scoreless inning in the fourth and struck out the side. Spencer Vainavicz pitched 3.1 innings and allowed no hits with a career-high seven strikeouts. 

The Panthers increased their lead to 6-2 in the fourth as Watson and Rydzewski led off with singles. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch as Watson scored. Marcoux had a two-out RBI double to left center as Rydzewski scored the sixth run.

The Saints made things interesting in the ninth as Buchberger was now on the mound for Davenport. An error started the inning but DU recorded two outs. Another error put runners on first and second before Mitchell Weber had a RBI single. Drew Hernandez followed with a RBI single and Weber took third on a booted ball in center. With runners on the corners, Troy Lofgren came up as the potential winning run and Buchberger struck him out to end the game.

Game Notes: Davenport collected 14 hits off three different Aquinas pitchers. Bruce Buurstra took the loss (2-3) going 3.2 innings and allowing six runs. Watson finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and set a season-high in hits. Buchberger went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. He now has 15 multi-hit games this season. Marcoux finished 2-for-5 with two RBI. He now has six multi-RBI games this season.

On Deck: Davenport (17-11) will host Purdue Northwest (13-14) on Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. It kicks off a four-game weekend series with the Pride. DU is 4-7 in the GLIAC while Purdue Northwest is 9-3 and currently in second place.