FORT PIERCE, Fl.- The Immaculata baseball team opened its annual Spring Trip to the Sunshine State on Saturday evening vs the University of Northwestern. Immaculata led throughout the contest but it was an explosive seventh inning, which enabled the Macs to cruise to the victory by a final of 17-2.

Billy Manzo got the start for Immaculata tossing six shutout innings with five strikeouts to pick up his first victory of the young season.

On the heels of a shutout vs Rowan earlier in the week, the Macs ensured they would not be shutout on Saturday evening early in the game as the team scored a pair of runs in the second inning as Tim Dougherty Jr. and Joey Wright came around to score courtesy of a defensive miscue by the Eagles to claim an early 2-0 lead.

UNW answered back with a SAC Fly in the fourth inning following a defensive miscue by the Macs, which had extended the inning to trim the deficit back to just one run.
During the fifth inning of play, Greg Dahl got things started with a triple before coming around to score on a double to center field off the bat of Trevor Wagner. Wagner would score moments later following a double from Isaiah Payton to give the Macs a comfortable 4-1 lead heading to the home half of the fifth. Dahl would drive in another run for the Macs during the sixth inning with a SAC Fly, which extended the lead to 5-1.

The Eagles answered back with a run of their own during the home half of the sixth inning on a SAC Fly, which cut the deficit to 5-2 heading to the seventh inning.

The Immaculata offense exploded in the seventh inning scoring 12 runs on six hits, eight free passes and one error to claim a commanding 17-2 lead. Immaculata loaded the bases with just one out in the seventh following walks by Coy Walters, and Wright along with a single off the bat Dougherty Jr. to begin the threat. Stephen Trendler followed this up with an RBI single before Domenic Dellabarba was hit by a pitch and Greg Dahl worked a walk to score three runs and keep the bases loaded. Josh Crowding followed this up with an RBI single of his own before advancing on a balk during Wagners at bat, which also scored Dellabarba. Wagner cleared the bases with another two RBI double to right center, which gave the Macs a commanding 12-2 lead. Walters and Wright would work walks again to reload the bases, which allowed Wagner and Walters to score following an error by the shortstop to extend the lead to 14-2. Trendler and Dahl followed this up with RBI singles before Crowding worked another bases loaded walk to give the Macs a commanding 17-2 lead heading to the home half of the seventh.

With the lead comfortably in hand, Schneider and the Macs turned to the bullpen to finish the job as Greg Lambert, Brendan Sullivan, and Rich Bonzak split the final three innings scattering just four hits while striking out five over the course of three scoreless innings to earn the 17-2 victory on Saturday evening.

Wagner and Dahl were the Macs offensive leaders on Saturday evening as they went 3-for-5 and 3-for-4, respectively with three RBI and a pair of runs scored for both players.

Immaculata will be back in action later this afternoon vs Dominican with that contest set to begin at 1 p.m.