Senior Joe Fowler hit the game-winning home run in the eighth against Delaware.

NEWARK, Del.—Senior Joe Fowler (Wilmington, Del/St. Mark’s) returned to his home state and led the Retrievers to a 12-11 victory over Delaware on Tuesday thanks to his game-winning two-run home run in the eighth that sealed a come-from-behind victory for the Retrievers (2-2).

Fowler, who was 2-for-4 on the day with three runs scored and four RBI, was one of three Retrievers to homer during the contest, as freshman Sterling Sams (Vienna, Va./James Madison) led off the second inning with a solo shot, and senior Will Delawter (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake JC) added two of his own in the third with a three-run homer, and then again in the fourth with a two-run four-bagger.

Delawter, who was 2-for-5 on the day with two runs scored and five RBI, also started on the mound for the Retrievers, going three innings and giving up just one run on four hits, while striking out one.  Junior Ryan Morse (1-0) (Frederick, Md./Catoctin/Chesapeake) earned the first win of his career with the Retrievers as he pitched 3.1 innings in relief and let in two runs on two hits, while fanning six batters.

Adam Tsakonas led the Blue Hens (3-5), going 3-for-4 with two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI, while David Slovak was credited with the loss, after giving up two runs (one earned) in two innings pitched, while striking out three.

The Blue Hens jumped onto the board first, in the bottom of the first as Alex Buchholz tallied a triple with two outs, and then scored on Jared Olson’s double to give Delaware a 1-0 lead.

The Retrievers answered quickly in the second as Sams knocked one out of the park as the leadoff batter to knot the score at one, and the Retrievers took their first lead of the game in the third after Delawter’s three-run shot, which gave them a 4-1 advantage.

That lead was extended in the fourth, which saw the Retrievers score five runs on five hits, sparked by junior Tom Meaney’s (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem) double.  Another Delaware native, senior Mark Lemon (Wilmington, Del./St. Mark’s) plated Meaney with a single to right center and, after a pitching change, junior Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) doubled to put men on second and third.  

With two outs against the Retrievers, Fowler tallied two of his four RBI with a single to right and Delawter followed with his second home run of the day as the Retrievers took a commanding, 9-1 lead over Delaware.

The Blue Hens duplicated UMBC’s feat however, as they added five runs of their own in the bottom of the inning with a run scored off senior Sean Rae’s (Westminster, Md./Calvert Hall/Frostburg) wild pitch and two runs each off homers by Josh Dean and Tsakonas to bring Delaware within three, 9-6.

The Retrievers added another run in the fifth off thanks to Lemon’s groundout RBI, while the Blue Hens cut the Retriever lead to one with a three-run homer by Olson in bottom of the sixth to make the score 10-9.

Delaware took the lead in the seventh after Tsakonas’ second home run of the day, a two-run affair, as they earned a one-run advantage over the Retrievers, 11-10.

The celebration was short-lived, however, as Nolan reached base on a Blue Hen error and Fowler gave the Retrievers the win with a two-run homer in the eighth for the 12-11 decision.

The Blue Hens were held hitless by Morse in the bottom of the eighth and neither team recorded a hit in the ninth.

Delaware held the advantage on hits, 15-13, but the Retrievers committed just one error to the Blue Hens’ three.

The Retrievers will travel to Annapolis, Md. on Wednesday to face the Navy Midshipmen at 2:00 p.m. before hosting Manhattan in a three-game series over the weekend.