WORCESTER, Mass. - Quinnipiac starter Andy Mayer (Trumbull, Conn.) improved to 2-1 on the year as the Bobcats down Holy Cross, 7-3, at Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass. Mayer now has 15 career wins, moving into a five-way tie for 11th place all-time at Quinnipiac. Mayer held Holy Cross to one run over six innings pitched while scattering three hits for the afternoon. Quinnipiac improves to 3-8 overall while Holy Cross drops to 4-11.

John Delaney (Hanson, Mass.) had a big day at the plate for Quinnipiac as the senior shortstop was 3 for 5 with a double and a two-run homerun. Chris Gloor (Bay Shore, N.Y.) pitched the final three innings in relief to pick up the save.

In the top of the 3^rd inning, freshman Ben Farina (Waterford, Conn.) laced an 0-1 offereing from Holy Cross starter Mike Thater for a double with one out in the inning. The double was Farina’s third of the season, giving the Bobcats five players with three or more two-baggers in the club’s first 11 games. Junior Bryn Doyle (Manchester, N.H.) hit a week ground ball to third base for the second out of the inning before senior John Delaney (Hanson, Mass.) drove Thater’s first offering over the left field wall to give Quinnipiac a 2-0 lead. The homerun was Delaney’s third of the year.

In the bottom half of the inning, Tim Hughes led off the inning with a blooper down the right field line that would give Hughes a double. Mayer then got Steve Soldi to ground out to third base for the first out of the inning. Mayer had been cruising up to that point, allowing just one hit to the previous seven batters he faced, striking out two and inducing four ground balls. Mayer got lead-off hitter Brendan McCrea to fly out to center field and Matt Perry to fly out in foul territory down the left field line to end the Crusaders’ scoring threat.

In the top of the 4^th, freshman Blake Barone (Branford, Conn.) laced a 2-2 offering from Thater deep to right field, over the head of Holy Cross’ outfielder, giving the freshman outfielder his first extra-base hit of his collegiate career. Barone scored from second when Michael Marmo (Roslyn, N.Y.) drove the first pitch he saw up the middle to give Quinnipiac a 3-0 lead. Thater then got Tyler Turgeon (Norwich, Conn.) to hit into a double play before Ryan Ullrich (Woodbridge, Conn.) smoked a ground ball between second and third. Holy Cross’ John Sills made a driving stop and threw Ullrich out by two steps to end the inning.

In the top of the 6^th, Peter Kummerfeldt (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) led off with his second hit of the day before Joe Poletsky (Riverside, Conn.) hit a ground ball to third base. The second base on the double play attempt, dropped the ball, allowing Kummerfeldt to move into scoring position at third and putting Poletsky at first. Barone then dropped down a text-book sacrifice bunt, moving Kummerfeldt to third and Poletsky into scoring position at second with one out.

Thater was able to retire Marmo on a full count curveball that the junior catcher swung through for the second out of the inning. After Turgeon walked to load the bases, Ullrich also worked the count to draw a two-out walk, forcing Kummerfeldt home and giving Quinnipiac 4-0 lead. The walk ended Thater’s day as he was relieved by Chris Blanchard. Thater allowed four runs – three earned – on eight hits over 5 2/3 as he dropped to 0-2 on the season.

Blanchard threw a wild pitch to the first batter he faced, Farina, allowing Poletsky to score to give Quinnipiac a 5-0 lead while both runners advanced a base. Farina then walked to load the bases for Doyle, whose slicing line drive towards the right field line was tracked down for the final out.

Holy Cross threatened in the bottom of the 6^th when Mayer hit McCrea with a pitch to start the inning. Perry then followed with a line drive to left field, reaching base safely and moving McCrea to second base. A ground ball by Kyle Lister retired Perry before Gil Gomez walked to load the bases. Eric Oxford’s ground ball to first base score McCrea, ending Mayer’s shutout bid and cutting the Quinnipiac lead to 5-1. Mayer struck out Nick Ciardello to end the inning.

 In the top of the 7^th, Chris Gloor (Bay Shore, N.Y.) came on in relief of Mayer. Gloor induced a pair of ground balls but both throws to first pulled Poletsky off the bag putting John Sills at third and Bill Cupelo at first. Soldi’s groundball pushed Sills across with an unearned run while Cupelo was retired at second as Holy Cross cut Quinnipiac’s lead to 5-2. After Gloor got McCrea to fly out to right, he induced a ground ball to Perry to end the inning.

In the 8^th, Lister led off the inning with a solo-homerun to deep center field to cut the Quinnipiac lead to 5-3. Gloor was able to get Gomez to ground out to short before striking out Oxford and Ciardiello, the later looking, to end the inning with Quinnipiac leading 5-3 through eight.

Quinnipiac would push across a pair of runs in the top of the 9^th to give them a 7-3 lead.

The Bobcats return to action on Tuesday, March 25 when they travel to West Point, N.Y. to take on Army at 3 p.m.