PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Arcadia University baseball team recorded a 7-6 non-conference walkoff win against visiting Stevens Institute of Technology Wednesday evening at Erny Field. The Knights trailed by one in the bottom of the ninth, but Arcadia tied the game and sophomore Justin Chasmar delivered a big two-out single to score junior Michael Nessel from third and win the game for the Knights. Arcadia improves to 14-9 on the year with the win while Stevens falls to 15-10 in the loss.

After the Knights held the Ducks scoreless in the first, Arcadia did not waste any time getting on the board, scoring three in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Tom Wagner drew a two-out walk and then a single from junior Nick Todero advanced Wagner to second. Freshman Nick Cardace followed suit with a single to score Wagner and put the first run on the board. In the next at-bat, junior Connor Arsenault stroked a double to right center for the Knights' third consecutive two-out hit to score both Cardace and Todero and give Arcadia an early 3-0 advantage.

The Ducks responded in the next half inning after consecutive one-out doubles to cut Arcadia's lead to two, but the Knights gained that run right back in the bottom half of the second. Sophomore Austin Eppenstein reached base after a leadoff single and was advanced on a groundball. Eppenstein came around to score after an RBI single off the bat of freshman Pat Shevlin to give the Knights a three run lead once again.

Arcadia added another run to make it a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after Arsenault hit his second double of the game to start off the inning and was advanced to third on a groundout but scored after Eppenstein induced an error by the shortstop on a groundball.

Stevens had a chance to cut their deficit in the sixth inning after drawing two walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases with just one out. After a pitching change, the Ducks forced home a run after drawing another walk to make it a 5-2 ballgame, but senior Jonah Van Bemmelen settled down and recorded a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.

The Ducks would knot the game at five in the top of the eighth after an RBI single gave Stevens first and third with two outs and a stolen base put the tying run at second. Senior Brian Hennelly came up clutch for the Ducks with a two-out triple that caromed off of the right field fence to score two and make it a 5-5 game. Stevens then took their first lead of the game in the top of the ninth inning after a hit batter led off the inning and he then stole second. After being advanced to third on a groundout, the Ducks took a 6-5 lead on an RBI single.

The Knights won the game in the bottom of the ninth after loading the bases with one out and a single by Arsenault followed by two defensive miscues by the Ducks. In the next at-bat, Senior Dan Shiramizu hit a groundball to the shortstop but beat out a potential game ending double-play ball at first base to reach on a fielder's choice and score Arsenault to tie the game at six. Then Chasmar came up clutch for the Knights, smashing a hard line-drive over a charging center fielder's head to score Nessel and record the walkoff win for Arcadia.

Nessel was credited with the win, after throwing 0.2 innings of relief and only surrendering one hit with a strikeout to improve his record to 3-2 on the year. For the Ducks, junior Ryan Patterson fell to 0-2 with the loss after 0.2 innings and allowing two unearned runs on two hits.

Arsenault finished the game 3-4 at the plate with two doubles, two RBIs, and two runs scored while Shevlin also had a multi-hit game, going 2-3 with an RBI. For the Ducks, junior Nick Sieber went 2-3 with a walk, two RBIs, and a run scored while classmate Jayson Yano was 2-4 with a hit by pitch, an RBI and a run scored.

Despite the two runs in the ninth, Stevens' bullpen kept the Ducks in the game combining for 3.2 innings and only allowing two unearned runs on two hits with two strikeouts, and no walks.

The Knights will return to action on Friday when they visit Lebanon Valley College for a 3:30 p.m. Commonwealth Conference game and will return to Erny Field on Saturday when they host Lebanon Valley for a conference doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.