Garden City, N.Y. -- Playing in 30-degree conditions for the final time before heading south for its spring trip to Florida, the Adelphi University baseball team opened up a 7-0 lead en route to hanging on to defeat the University of New Haven Chargers, 8-5, on Bonomo Field.

Eric Hassell and Robert Vani combined to power the Panthers to the win, going a combined 5-8 at the plate in the heart of the order with two RBI and two runs scored, while designated hitter Brett Malm went 2-4 with a pair driven in as well. Crowned Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Week for his efforts in a 5-2 Opening Day win over Saint Thomas Aquinas (7.0 innings, 9 Ks), TJ Santiago improved to 2-0 on the season after scattering three unearned runs, four hits and five strikeouts across 5.2 innings of work, keeping his season ERA at 0.00 after two starts, while Andrew Sesto got his second save of the season behind a sparkling ninth with two strikeouts.

Adelphi (2-2) got on the board early, handing Santiago a three-spot in the bottom of the first with help from four hits and two Charger errors in the field. Michael Cattani legged out an infield hit, and advanced to second after the third baseman made an ill-advised throw to first, and Vani followed with a single to put runners at the corners with one down. A Hassell single up the middle drove in Cattani, before Brandon Morse hustled all the way as the New Haven shortstop threw the ball away on a grounder, and advanced to second while Vani scored to make it 2-0 Panthers.From there, Malm capped the inning by driving in Morse with a single up the middle for his first RBI of the game to make it 3-0.

The Panthers seemed to blow the game open in the fourth inning, adding four runs to open up a seven-run margin. Malm doubled to lead off an inning in which the Brown and Gold stroked four extra base hits to chase the Chargers' starter, Vincent Aprea. Kory Cassara tripled down the right field line to score Malm, who was then driven in on Stack's groundout to make it 5-0. With the bases clear, Zach Levinson kept the inning going with a double to right center and Steven Withers singled to put runners at the corners, before Michael Cattani and Vani recorded RBIs on a sac fly and a double respectively to cap Adelphi's scoring in the frame.

New Haven got two back in the fifth and one in the sixth to chase Santiago, who gave way to 1.1 innings of scoreless relief by Michael Tarpey with a pair of strikeouts, but the Chargers got two more off David Butler in the eighth to close the gap to 8-5, and have the tying run on deck against Michael Demarest. Nonetheless, Demarest responded to get the final out of the eighth, handing the ball off to Sesto in the ninth to finish with a flourish, behind a flyout to center field and two strikeouts.

The Panthers begin their swing in Florida on Thursday, March 9 against Bloomfield College on the campus of Broward County Community College (Davie, Fla.) at 7:30 pm.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 20 regular season conference titles, 24 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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