Emmitsburg, Md. (May 15, 2009)--Jacob Darr (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) belted a two-run walk-off home run to lift Mount St. Mary's to a 5-4 win over Sacred Heart in the second game of a doubleheader at E.T. Straw Family Stadium on campus on Friday afternoon. The Pioneers took the opener, 6-0.

With the victory, the Mount keeps its hopes alive for a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Mount (22-25, 14-11 NEC) entered the day tied with Central Connecticut State for the fourth and final spot in the NEC Tournament. The Mount needs to match the amount of wins Central Connecticut State gets in its four-game series at Monmouth to earn a spot in the four-team NEC playoffs. CCSU and Monmouth opened their four-game NEC series today.

Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh in the second game, Tommy Flynn (Reston, Va./South Lakes) beat out a grounder to short to open the inning with an infield hit. Buddy Fields (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson) moved Flynn to second with a sacrifice bunt to set the table for Darr. Darr followed by belting a 2-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for a two-run walk-off homer, his fifth home run of the season.

Sacred Heart (27-24-1, 16-9 NEC) began the game quickly when Mike Drowne and Phil Tantillo belted back-to-back home runs off Mount starter Max Brittenham (Stamford, Conn./St. Luke's) to open the game. Jeff Hanson, the next batter, drove a ball down the left field line, but was thrown out at second base for the first out. Tyler Santos followed with a base hit, but Brittenham was able to escape the jam without further damage.

Pioneer starter Ryan Lynch kept the Mount off the scoreboard through four innings, but hte Mountaineers broke through for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead. Freshman Josh Winter (Timonium, Md./Boys' Latin) singled to open the inning and Joe Kavanagh (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) followed with a two-run homer to even the score at 2-2. It was Kavanagh's second home run of the year.

Steve Benvenuto (Salisbury, Md./Snow Hill) then singled and moved to second on a Flynn sacrifice bunt. Fields then drove the ball to the left-center field gap for a double to plate Benvenuto with the go-ahead run.

Sacred Heart rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to grab the lead. Steve Tedesco singled with one out and the Mount brought in closer Mike Matta (Woodbridge, Va./Potomac) to try to close out the game. Matta, however, was greeted by back-to-back base hits from Drowne and Tantillo with Tantillo's driving home Tedesco with the tying run. The Mount walked Hanson, the NEC's leading hitter, to load the bases for Santos, who beat out the relay throw on a fielder's choice to short, allowing Drowne to score the go-ahead run.

Brittenham recovered from his rough beginning to allow three runs in 6.1 innings of work with six strikeouts. Matta (6-1) earned the victory in relief. Darr, Flynn and Kavanagh paced the Mount with two hits each in the game.

Chris Zaccherio took the loss, allowing two runs in two innings of relief. Lynch allowed three runs in 4.1 innings for Sacred Heart. Drowne, Tantillo, Hanson and M.J. Schifano each had two hits in the loss.

In the opening game, Jared Balbach tossed a six-hit shutout to lead Sacred Heart to the 6-0 victory. Balbach stranded six Mount St. Mary's runners in scoring position in the game to earn his first career shutout.

Mount starter Costa Kapothanasis (Westbrooke, Maine/Cheverus) did not allow a hit over the first three innings, but four straight singles by the Pioneers to open the fourth plate a pair of runs for a 2-0 Sacred Heart lead. Tantillo, Hanson and Santos each singled ahead of Heppner, who laced a two-run single through the left side to plate the first two runs of the game. Kapothanasis, however, got out of the jam with a strikeout and a pair of popouts to keep the score at 2-0.

The Pioneers sealed the win with four runs in the fifth with the help of three Mount St. Mary's errors.

Darr went 2-for-3 in the loss for the Mount while Kapothanasis allowed six runs (three earned) and six hits with four strikeouts in the complete game loss. Heppner drove in three runs to pace Sacred Heart while Hanson and Santos added two hits each in the game.

Tomorrow's final game of the four-game series will begin at 10:00 a.m. at E.T. Straw Family Stadium on campus. The game was moved up from its original start time of 1:00 p.m. due to the threat of rain.

The Mount will honor seniors Jimmy Mudgett (Sykesville, Md./Century), Ryan Stamp (Waldorf, Md./Dematha Catholic), Matt Staso (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph), Bobby Plumb (Bethel, Conn./Immaculate) and Andres Tamayo (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) prior to the start of tomorrow's game.