GREEENEVILLE, TN - In a back and forth affair that had everyone on the edge of their seats, the Northampton Spartans came back from 2 runs down in the bottom of the 9th to defeat top-seeded Herkimer College, 11-10, on Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Park to stay alive in the NJCAA World Series.

Leading 6-2 after 4 innings, the Spartans saw Herkimer plate 3 runs in the top of the 5th to close the gap to 6-5.  

Northampton added an insurance run in the 7th inning to make it 7-5, but Herkimer responded with a 3 run 8th inning to take an 8-7 lead. 

The Spartans responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the contest at 8-8. 

Herkimer then scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th for a 10-8 advantage, before the Spartans set the table for Tommy Dunleavy's (Bushkill, PA/East Stroudsburg North) heroics in the bottom half of the final stanza.  Dunleavy singled home the winning run with bases loaded to give Northampton the thrilling 11-10 win. 

Dunleavy also picked up the victory on the mound, throwing one inning of relief in the 9th, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits while striking out 1. 

Tyler Melko (Knoxville, PA/Cowanesque Valley) had 4 RBI, CJ Gantz (Bath, PA/Northampton) 3 RBI and Christian Del Toro (Trujillo Alto, PR/Perkiomen School) hit a solo homerun to pace the Spartans. 

The Spartans now 35-14, will face the loser of #2 Rowan College @ Gloucester County and #3 Tyler Junior College on Monday at a time to be determined. 

BOX SCORE vs Herkimer 

BRACKET 

PHOTOS vs. Herkimer