SAVANNAH, Ga. - After having the start of the 2012 season delayed 24 hours due to rain, the Wayne State University baseball team defeated 14th-ranked Le Moyne College, 5-2, on Monday afternoon at the Armstrong Atlantic Invitational.

The Warriors (1-0) broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the ninth inning.  Back-to-back doubles by J.J. Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott) and Ryan Buter (North Muskegon, Mich.) to start the inning gave WSU the lead.

Billy Hurley (Mississauga, Ont./St. Aloysius Gonzaga) came on in the bottom half to close it out and pick up his ninth career save, moving him into a tie for second all-time at Wayne State.

The Dolphins (4-3), who came into Monday averaging over 10 runs per game, managed just two runs off of starter Alex Pierse (Clinton Twp., Mich./De La Salle), who gave up six hits and walked six over five innings.  He struck out three and picked off a pair of runners.

Ethan Vasiliasuskas (South Rockwood, Mich./Carleton Airport) took over in the sixth and fanned four over three hitless innings in his WSU debut.

Wayne State took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth.  The Warriors put two men aboard with one out as Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) singled and Andrew Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott) was hit by a pitch.  Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) drove Guenther in with a base hit, and Kasey Koster's (Portage, Mich./Central) sacrifice fly brought in Ciennik.

A solo home run by Kody O'Connor in the fourth and a bases-loaded walk to Zack Wiley in the fifth tied the score.

Wayne State accumulated five of its nine hits in the ninth inning.  An RBI single by Guenther and an RBI grounder by Andrew Ciennik provided additional insurance runs for Hurley, who allowed a leadoff single before retiring the next three hitters.

Le Moyne starter Derek Zielinski, who like Pierse walked six and gave up two runs, struck out eight over seven innings before giving way to Erik Lambe, who took the loss (1-1).

The Warriors have two games scheduled for Tuesday.  In addition to the originally-scheduled 11:00 a.m. game against Urbana, the contest against Wayne State (Neb.) which was to have been played Sunday will take place Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.


NOTES
Hurley is tied with Jamieson Oliver (1994-96) and Steve Squires (2004-05) on WSU's all-time saves list with nine … Buter has a six-game hitting streak dating back to the end of last season … Kyle Zimmerman (Frankfort, Mich.) started at first base in his collegiate debut … Guenther, Trojan and Phil Swanson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Stoney Creek) all had two-hit games.