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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Senior Ryan Kirman (Little Silver, N.J./Red Bank Regional) belted a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Bloomsburg University baseball team held off the College of St. Joseph (VT), 6-5, on Friday morning at the Builder Invitational hosted by the Newport News Apprentice School. The Huskies improved to 3-2 overall and moved to a perfect 2-0 at the invitational while the Fighting Saints dropped to 3-8 overall.

The Huskies could muster just six hits on offense but got a strong pitching performance from sophomore Zach Newmyer (New Cumberland, Pa./Red Land) who evened his record at 1-1 on the season with the victory. Newmyer allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in six innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out six. Senior Sean McCloskey (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) pitched the seventh and eighth innings while freshman Wyatt Beakler (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) closed out the contest with his first collegiate save, pitching around a leadoff single.

College of St. Joseph scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 advantage against Newmyer. But, the Huskies responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to take a 2-1 lead.

Sophomore Tyler Benson (Montville, N.J./Montville Township) reached on an error with one out and eventually scored on a two-out double from junior Damin Muth (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland). Senior Joey Casselberry (Eagleville, Pa./Methacton) followed with an RBI single to score Muth for the final run of the inning.

The Fighting Saints tied the game in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout from Justin Lemanski.

But, in the bottom half of the fifth, Muth was hit by a pitch with two outs and raced to third on a single by Casselberry. Kirman then belted his third home run of the season to give the Huskies a 5-2 advantage. Kirman has five hits in five games thus far this season - two doubles and three home runs. He is also tied for the early lead on the team in runs batted in with seven.

The Huskies added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh after Benson was plunked by a pitch to lead off the frame. He then scored all the way from first on a run-scoring double from freshman Tristan Kevitch (Ardmore, Pa./Harriton).

In the top of the eighth, however, the Fighting Saints touched up McCloskey for three runs, all of which were unearned. Two of the runs socred on wild pitches while the other was plated on an RBI single from Nick Rodriguez.

After the Huskies went quietly in the top of the ninth, Beakler, making his first collegiate appearance, allowed a leadoff single to Tyler Kunzmann, who was promptly sacrificed to second by Lemanski. The freshman then retired the next two batters to record his first career save.

Casselberry had two of Bloomsburg's six hits to pace the Huskies' offense. The Fighting Saints, who had nine hits in the contest, got three hits from Connor Martin in a losing effort.

Alan Madsen suffered the loss for College of Saint Joseph after allowing six runs (four earned) on six hits. He walked one and struck out nine but hit four Husky batters.

Bloomsburg will take the field again at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening against the Crimson Hawks of Indiana (PA). The two teams have already met once before with the Huskies posting a 17-0 victory last Saturday, February 20.