AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Junior leftfielder Andrew Scully (Stratford) hit a tie-breaking two-run

home run in the seventh inning and junior righty Adam Merritt (Seymour) pitched out of jams in three of the last four innings as the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team downed No. 4 nationally-ranked Birmingham-Southern College, 7-6, Wednesday morning at Lake Myrtle Park.

After tying the game, 5-5, with a two-out double down the left field line in the top of the fourth off reliever Wilson Jamison, Scully stroked the first delivery he saw from Jamison in the seventh over the left field fence for his first homer of the season that gave Eastern (2-5) the lead for good, 7-5. Senior rightfielder Kyle Hart (Guilford) had reached on an infield throwing error to open the inning.

Eastern rebounded with the victory after being routed by No. 2 Cortland State, 14-2, Tuesday.

Merritt (2-0) was summoned in relief of junior righty starter Patrick O'Neill (Thomaston) with the go-ahead on third base and one out in the sixth. He got two fly balls to end that threat and keep the game tied, then preserved the 7-5 lead by wiggling out of jams in the seventh and eighth. Merritt's throwing error in the seventh allowed Birmingham-Southern (16-2) to score once in the seventh, but he left two runners on bases with an infield pop, infield ground ball and inning-ending swinging strikeout.

With the Warriors nursing the 7-6 lead in the eighth, Hart threw out the potential trying run trying to advance from first to third on Taylor McCracken's si

ngle with none out. Merritt left McCracken in scoring position when senior centerfielder Joe Perez (North Branford) accounted for the final two outs by gloving a routine fly ball, then getting a great break to snare cleanup hitter Zach Wingate's screaming line drive at chest level to end the inning.

At right: Closer Adam Merritt (41) and catcher Tim Budd.

In retiring five batters in the sixth and seventh, Merritt threw 15 of his 17 pitches for strikes. By pitching the final 3 2/3 innings, Merritt now has pitched 34 1/3 innings over two years at Eastern without allowing an earned run. Against BSC, he fanned three and gave up three hits and hit a batter without a walk and was charged with an unearned run.

O'Neill pitched a solid 5 1/3 innings in his third start of the year. He gave up 11 hits but walked only one and fanned four. He was charged with all five runs, all earned.

Scully raised his team-leading batting average to .450 by collecting four of Eastern's ten hits, with Perez also picking up two infield singles. Scully finished with four RBI. He singled in Eastern's first run in a two-run first inning, singled and scored a run that gave Eastern a 4-2 lead in the third, and doubled in the tying run with two out in the fourth before launching his second career home run in the seventh.

Birningham-Southern, ranked fourth in the first ABCA national poll released Tuesday, has lost two of four since capturing its first 14.

Eastern closes out its Florida trip Thursday against Ramapo College at 3:30 p.m. at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven.