Misericordia baseball wins Super Regional opener, eyes return to D3 World Series

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Joe Valenti and Matt Lanzendorfer combined on a four-hitter as the Misericordia baseball team took the opening game of the NCAA Super Regional 3-1 Friday afternoon at Christopher Newport.

Game two of the series will be played 11 a.m. Saturday as the Cougars look to clinch their second consecutive NCAA Division III World Series berth.

Valenti struck out eight over seven innings to pick up his 10th win of the season and Lanzendorfer struck out two in two scoreless innings to earn his sixth save.

Brock Bollinger and Joe Comins had two hits each for MU and Comins and Owen Cordner drove in runs. Jason Sanfilippo reached base twice and scored a run.

Down 1-0 in the fifth inning, Sanfilippo reached via hit by pitch to start the inning and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. He stole third and came home with the tying run when the throw sailed into left field.

Comins lined the first pitch into right field for a single to open the seventh inning and advanced to second when Gabe Bunn made his first appearance in nearly a month and dropped down a two-strike sacrifice bunt. One out later, Cordner lined a 1-2 pitch into centerfield to give Misericordia a 2-1 lead.

Misericordia added an insurance run in the eighth when Bollinger lined a one-out single to center and stole second. Comins lined a two-out single back through the box to put the Cougars up, 3-1.

The Cougars won their 10th straight game to improve to 37-9.