BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton Baseball team picked up a big non-conference win on Thursday, downing NJCAA Division II Lackawanna College 11-7 at Spartan Park. 

Drew Jackson (Berwyn, PA/Conestoga) earned the win for Northampton, improving to 5-2 with 6 innings of work, allowing 7 runs on 7 hits, walking 5 and striking out 7. 

Andrew Corso (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) and Tommy Dunleavy (Bushkill, PA/East Stroudsburg North) finished up the final three innings, combining to shutout the Falcons on 2 hits while striking out 3 batters. 

Christian Del Toro (Trujillo Alto, PR/Perkiomen School) got things rolling for the Spartans, breaking a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a 2-run homerun followed by a RBI single from Mike Ferrara (Cresco, PA/Pocono Mt. East), giving Northampton a 4-1 lead. 

Lackawanna battled back with 4 runs in the top of the 6th, but the Spartans responded with two runs behind a RBI double from CJ Gantz (Bath, PA/Northampton) and a RBI single from Ferrara, who finished 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. 

Leading 6-5 entering the top of the 7th, the Falcons plated two runs to take a 7-6 lead, but the Spartans were able to score two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim an 8-7 advantage. 

After holding the Falcons scoreless in the top of the 8th, Derek Stento (New Milford, PA/Blue Ridge) smashed a pinch-hit homerun to give Northampton a 9-7 lead and the Spartans would add on two more insurance runs to take the 11-7 victory. 

Del Toro finished 3 for 4 with 3 RBI, Gantz was 2 for 4 as the Spartans had 13 hits. 

"This was a good win for us," remarked skipper Adrian Yaguez, "Lackawanna is the top-seeded team in the Region XIX DII Tournament, so this is a very good ballclub we just beat."

Northampton, which hosts Ocean County College on Friday at 3:30pm, improves to 25-11 overall with the win. 

Lackawanna falls to 24-15.