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LATROBE, Pa. (April 14) - The Saint Vincent baseball team led 7-5 after seven innings, but La Roche rallied with six unanswered runs in the final two innings to post the 11-7 win in non-conference action at Bearcat Ballfield.

With the loss, the Bearcats drop to 12-9 on the season, while La Roche improves to 20-6 this year.

Saint Vincent struck first with a run in the bottom of the second. With one out, Jordan Britcher singled to center field and then advanced to second on a wild pitch before later scoring on a two-out single by Vince Murphy.

Starting pitcher Steve Janik started dancing through rain drops in the third inning when the Redhawks loaded the bases for the first of three-straight innings, but Janik escaped without allowing a run in the third thanks to an unassisted double play by shortstop Brad Burkardt and a fly out to end the threat.

In the fourth, La Roche once again loaded the bases with none out and Janik was able to get out of it by allowing just one run. In the fifth inning, however, the guests plated three runs on two hits as Alex Kozusko relieved Janik, 4-1.

SVC responded with four runs (all with two outs) in the bottom of the fifth to re-take the lead. Joey Fearer started the rally with a single down the left-field line and stole second before scoring when Burkardt reached on a passed ball after striking out. Grant Krally singled to right center, advancing Burkardt to third, before Andrew Kozusko blasted his third home run of the season to center to put SVC ahead, 5-4.

A La Roche run in the sixth was answered in the bottom half of the frame when Murphy led off with a bunt single and stole second before scoring on a two-out double by Fearer, 6-5.

The final Bearcat run came in the bottom of the seventh when Kozusko hit a one-out single to center and later scored on an error after stealing second.

La Roche responded with two runs in the eighth and four in the top of the ninth to record the 11-7 win.

Janik worked 4.0 innings in the start, scattering four hits and four earned runs. Alex Kozusko worked 3.1 innings of relief, yielding two hits and three unearned runs. Gary Gerhardt, who started the game at third base for the first time in his career, took the loss, working 1.0 inning and allowing four hits and four earned runs. Chris Storm went the final 0.2 innings and yielded just one hit.

Fearer led the way in going 4-for-5 with a double, while Britcher went 3-for-4 and Murphy and Andrew Kozusko each posted a pair of hits, with the latter adding three RBI.

SVC resumes Presidents' Athletic Conference play on Tuesday, April 16 with a single nine-inning game at Bethany, scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.