DELRAY BEACH, Fla.  – The Felician University baseball team used a four-run sixth inning to key a 12-8 non-conference baseball victory over Bentley University on Wednesday afternoon during the Palm Beach Challenge at Little Fenway at Miller Park. Graduate outfielder Jake Hall (Hopatcong, N.J.) was 4 for 5 for Felician.

Freshman catcher Luis De La Cruz (Jersey City, N.J.) hit his first collegiate home run and junior first baseman Edwin Tavarez (Garfield, N.J.) also homered for the Golden Falcons (4-10). Tavarez was 2 for 3 with three runs scored and four runs batted in.

The lead changed hands during both halves of the sixth inning. Felician, the designated home team, had broken a 4-4 tie on an Alex Torres (Jackson, N.J.) sacrifice fly during the bottom of the fifth. But Bentley tied the game in the sixth on Charlie Auditore's (Walpole, Mass.) RBI single and moved ahead on a two-out bases-loaded walk to Jackson Walonis (Walpole, Mass.).

Felician loaded the bases without a hit to start the home half of the sixth. Tavarez knotted the score, 6-6, with a sacrifice fly. Following a walk, Dauri Genao (West New York, N.J.) produced a go-ahead two-run single and Hall capped the rally with an RBI groundout.

The game was delayed by inclement weather for more than an hour following the top of the seventh inning, setting the stage for a dramatic eighth. Bentley plated a run on Cory Bright's (Melrose, Mass.) single and scored a second on a two-out error. But with the go-ahead run on base, reliever Logan Waltz (Hazlet, N.J.) recorded a strikeout to preserve the Felician lead.

Felician tacked on three scores in the bottom of the eighth, receiving RBI singles from Tavarez and Hall and a bases-loaded walk from Michael Kuver (Manalapan, N.J.). Waltz worked around an no-out error in the ninth for his first career save.

Dylan Morrill (Teaneck, N.J.) (2-1), the third Felician pitcher, earned the victory following 1 2/3 innings of relief work. Genao finished 3 for 5. Walonis was 4 for 4 and Liam Sears (Springfield, Mass.) homered for Bentley (3-10).