NCAA South Regional
Score: No. 6 Roanoke 5, No. 2 LaGrange 2
Records: Roanoke 32-16, LaGrange 40-5
Location: Danville, Va.

The Lead: Roanoke College Baseball knocked off second-seed and No. 1 ranked LaGrange 5-2 Saturday morning to advance to the championship round of the 2017 NCAA South Regional in Danville, Va.

The Maroons advance to face an opponent to be determined at Noon on Sunday with a chance to advance to the NCAA Division III World Series in Appleton, Wisconsin. Roanoke will have to win just one game on Sunday while their opponent will have to defeat the Maroons twice. 

How it Happened

• With two outs and Sean Guida on first base in the Maroon first inning, Dean Hermanson singled to put runners on first and second for Sam Watson, who singled home Guida to make it 1-0 and moved Hermanson to third. Scott Ellis bunted for a base hit to plate Hermanson to make it 2-0, while Watson moved to third. With Drew Mikula at the plate, Ellis took off for second and intentionally got caught in a rundown allowing Watson to score to make it 3-0 Roanoke.   
• LaGrange got a run back in the top of the third inning to make it 3-1. RC made it 4-1 in its half of the third inning when LaGrange starter Richie Post could not handle a sharp groundball off the bat of Ellis, threw the ball away and allowed Will Decker to score from second base.
• LaGrange put runners on first and third with one out in the top of the fifth and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2, but RC escaped further damage when Forrest Wagner got the final two outs to end the inning.
• RC got the run back in its next at bat when Collier Donald singled to lead off the inning then Dean Hermanson singled with one out to put runners on first and second base. Watson singled to score Donald to push RC's lead to 5-2.
• Ethan Delahunty entered the game on the mound and threw two innings of relief, giving up just one hit before giving way to Sal Trancucci who tossed a perfect eighth inning.
• In the ninth, LaGrange loaded the bases with no outs on Trancucci before he was lifted in favor of Rawlings Cumbea. Cumbea struck out the first two batters he faced then induced groundball off the bat James Poropatic to Eli Sumpter at second base to end the game.
• The win sends RC's record to 32-16 on the season and Saturday's win marks the program's first victory over a No. 1 team. LaGrange is ranked at the top of this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 and fall to 40-5 on the season. 

Up Next: The Maroons advance to face an opponent to be determined at Noon on Sunday with a chance to advance to the NCAA Division III World Series in Appleton, Wisconsin. Roanoke will have to win just one game on Sunday while their opponent will have to defeat the Maroons twice.