BOX SCORE LANTANA, Fla. – Taylor Candage (Portland, Maine/Deering) allowed just one unearned run in six innings of work, and four players drove in runs to lead the University of New Haven baseball team to a 7-4 win over Mercy on Tuesday afternoon in Lantana, Fla.
 
The game served as a “rubber match” between the two clubs after the Chargers (6-3) and Mavericks (3-11-1) split a doubleheader on Saturday in the Sunshine State.
 
Stephen Clout (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) went 2-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored, while Joe Romanelli (Baldwin, N.Y./Holy Trinity) and Zach Collett (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook) were each 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Brendon Buckley (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) also drove in a run for New Haven via a sacrifice fly. #Brendan O’Reilly# had a base-hit as well, and he and Collett each swiped a base.
 
Candage (1-0) scattered three singles and one unearned run over his six innings of work. The right-hander struck out five batters and hit one. Southpaw Pat Simone (Branford, Conn./Branford) bridged the gap to Peter Jay (Shelton, Conn./Shelton), who struck out two as a part of a perfect ninth inning to record his conference-leading fourth save in four chances.
 
After Mercy got on the board first in the top of the fifth inning, New Haven claimed a lead it would not relinquish in the bottom of the stanza. Clout singled home Collett with two outs in the frame with Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) also coming around to score on the hit due to an error in right field.
 
The Chargers extended to their one-run lead in the sixth without the benefit of a base hit. After Chris DeMorais (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) led off with a walk and moved into scoring position on a Buckley sacrifice bunt, a pair of walks loaded the bases and a wild pitch allowed DeMorais to sprint home and increase the New Haven lead to 3-1.
 
Clout’s triple to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning started a four-run frame for New Haven. Romanelli followed with an RBI double and O’Reilly singled to put runners on the corners. Romanelli came home when O’Reilly stole second base, and the throw sailed into centerfield. A DeMorais flyout did its job and moved O’Reilly to third, and a sacrifice fly from Buckley brought him around the final 90 feet. New Haven added one more tally with two outs as Andrew Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford / Wheaton) worked a walk and came all the way around on a Collett double.
 
Though Mercy would grab three runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 7-4, Jay came on to fire a 1-2-3 ninth inning and shut the door on the Chargers’ victory.
 
New Haven completes its six-game swing in Florida tomorrow with its only true road game of the trip – a 1:30 p.m. contest at Lynn University. Action returns to Frank Vieira Field on Saturday with a noon doubleheader against Bentley.