Box Score

MURFREESBORO, N.C. - East Stroudsburg University scored three runs in the top of the 12th inning, and senior Brian Ernst and junior Keenan Stare combined for 17 strikeouts on the mound as the Warriors came away with a 6-3 win over Chowan in the first game of a doubleheader on Monday in North Carolina.

The second game was suspended due to darkness with ESU leading 2-1 after three innings. The game will be resumed from that point later this season.

The Warriors (2-2) and the Hawks (4-12) waited two days to get on the field, as they were originally scheduled for a four-game set with a doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's action was pushed back due to inclement weather, and Sunday's was washed out by an overnight thunderstorm.

When they finally got on the field, both teams scored two runs in the first inning but just one run each from that point until the 12th, when the Warriors broke through with three runs to win it.

On the mound, Ernst and Stare's 17 combined strikeouts are the most by the Warriors in a game in at least 10 years.

Ernst went the first 6.0 innings and struck out 10 (one off his career-high), walked four and gave up two hits and two runs. Stare entered in the seventh and went the final 6.0 innings, striking out seven with three walks, four hits allowed and a run to earn the win.

Chowan tied it on a two-out single by Colby Wiggins in the bottom of the seventh, but Stare bounced back to strike out the side in the eight and allowed just one runner in scoring position from the eighth through 11th innings.

In the top of the 12th, senior 2B Joe Bennie led off with a single and stole second, followed by a walk by redshirt freshman 3B Drew Hercik. Both runners moved up on a balk, and after the first out of the inning, Ernst was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Junior 1B Mark Romano broke the 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly to left to score Bennie, and junior OF Chris Knott reached on an error by the third baseman which allowed Hercik and Ernst to score to make it 6-3.

Chowan loaded the bases off Stare in the bottom of the 12th, but he got his seventh and final strikeout to win it.

The Warriors scored two runs on three hits in the first  - an RBI single by senior OF Eric Boyer, a base hit by Ernst, and an RBI single by junior 1B Mike Tenaglia.

Chowan answered with a two-run single by Tyler Burden in the bottom of the first, but the Warriors went back in front in the fifth on an RBI single by Ernst.

Ernst was 2-for-4 with two walks at the plate, and Hercik was also 2-for-4 with two walks and scored two runs.

Burden had three hits for Chowan. Ryan Moore threw the first 8.0 innings and gave up three runs on eight hits, struck out five and walked four. Carte Siweck threw the final 4.0 innings and gave up three runs (one earned) on one hit (Bennie's leadoff single), struck out three and walked four.

The Warriors are back in action this weekend with four games against UMass-Lowell in Flemington, N.J. Both doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday start at 12 p.m.