The University of Delaware baseball team rode the arm of Ron Marinaccio and the bats of freshman first baseman Nick Patten and sophomore third baseman Diaz Nardo (Cape Henlopen High) to its second straight victory Saturday afternoon as the Blue Hens defeated UMass Lowell 4-2 in the opener of the Bob Hannah Invitational at Bob Hannah Stadium.

Marinaccio improved to 3-0 as he allowed just two hits in eight scoreless innings before giving way to freshman Kyle Hinton in the ninth. Nardo had two hits and knocked in two runs and Patten clouted his second home run of the season, a mammoth drive to right center in the fourth inning.

Marinaccio, was outstanding once again as he remained a perfect 3-0 on the season as he allowed only a fourth inning single and a fifth inning single. He struck out seven batters and walked just two in a 102-pitch effort as he lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.00 on the season.

Hinton closed out the game for Delaware (5-3) as he preserved the lead and struck out four batters in two innings while allowing two runs and three hits.

Delaware got hits from six different batters led by 2015 Freshman All-American Nardo, who went 2 for 4 and recorded an RBI single in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the seventh to give the Hens a 4-0 lead.

UMASS Lowell 3, Delaware State 0: Delaware State continues to battle through hitting woes this season and were held to one hit.

UMass-Lowell starter Andrew Ryan tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out 10 to earn the win.

Hornet third baseman Cameron Onderko had the lone hit off Ryan, a one-out single in the top of the fourth inning. Onderko advanced to second in the inning, but was stranded there.

Ryan struck out the side in the DSU fourth and seventh innings. The Hornets fell to 0-10 on the season.

College lacrosse

MEN, Villanova 23, Delaware 13: The up-tempo attack of Villanova University was too much for the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad as the Blue Hens fell to the No. 14 ranked Wildcats.

Villanova (3-1), which won its third straight game, jumped out to a 8-0 lead in the opening quarter and peppered the Blue Hens with 61 shots for the game to pick up the win and down Delaware for the second straight season. Villanova, which scored the first 11 goals of the game and eventually took a 16-4 lead at halftime, led by as much as 14 goals after scoring the first two goals of the third quarter for an 18-4 lead.

Delaware (1-5), coming off a 14-6 win over VMI on Tuesday, recorded its second highest goal total of the season but it wasn’t enough to withstand the Villanova flurry. The Hens, who were also hurt by 20 turnovers, allowed five extra man goals by the Wildcats.

Blue Hen junior Paul Major recorded a career-high five points as he scored a hat trick for the second time in the last three games and also dished out two assists. Sophomore Dean DiSimone scored his first two goals of the season, freshman Joe Eisele had a goal and two assists, and senior midfielder John O’Connor and sophomore midfielder Matt Olbrich each had a goal and an assist.

Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw was stopped short in his quest for his 300th career victory at Delaware. Now in his 38th year at the helm at UD, he is trying to become only the second coach in NCAA Division I history to win 300 games at one school.

Bridgewater 11, Wesley 7: Blake Mann, a Cape Henlopen High product netted four goals to give Bridgewater (Va.) a win in its home opener against Wesley.

Caesar Rodney grads, Dan Brown (three) and Sean MacLeish (one), added assists for Bridgewater.

For Wesley, Sam Seibert finished with four goals while Nate Gemmato led the Wolverines with two assists. Gemmato went 7-for-8 in the faceoff circle and scooped a team-high seven ground balls. Nolan Vesey also scooped seven ground balls while recording a team-high five caused turnovers. Cody Ireland made 15 saves in net but took the loss between the pipes.

WOMEN, Delaware 13, Canisius 4: The Blue Hens continued to share the offensive wealth Saturday afternoon as Delaware defeated Canisius. In total, nine Blue Hens logged at least one point against the Griffs.

Junior Kirsten Hale notched a career-high four goals for her second hat trick of the year while classmate Coley Ricci registered her first career hat trick.

Freshman Caroline Farley also had a multiple-goal game and finished the day with a season-best two goals. Senior Casey Lyons dished out four assists to go along with a goal of her own.

Wesley 19, Mount St. Vincent 2: After suffering a tough 12-11 loss on Friday afternoon, the Wesley College Women’s Lacrosse team rebounded in a big way. The squad trounced College of Mount Saint Vincent, earning a 19-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at Drass Field.

Bailey Olds led the Wesley offense with 10 points, scoring three goals and dishing off seven assists. Foley Wassmuth, Francesca Benitez, and Fallon Fore each scored three goals as well. There were 10 different Wolverines with at least one goal and 11 different Wolverines that recorded at least one caused turnover. Ashley Luna led all Wolverine field players with four ground balls. Savannah Clough earned the win in net with 10 saves, two caused turnovers and four ground balls. The sophomore goalkeeper shut out the Dolphins in the second half.

The Wolverines improve to 2-3 on the season

College softball

Hornets beat Hens, Hens drop two: The Delaware softball team fell to Delaware State, 4-1, and to Bucknell, 11-1 in five innings, on Saturday during the first day of the Blue Hen Blast Tournament.

In Delaware’s first game of the day, Delaware State (5-6) struck first by plating a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third inning as two Hornets crossed the plate on a misplayed flyball by Blue Hen rightfielder Mariah Kondravy.

Vanessa Washington belted a solo homer in the fourth for DSU, while Jordan Stamps worked a bases loaded walk in the fifth as the Hornets extended the lead to 4-0. Delaware (8-6) scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth when Shelby Jones singled to left and came around to score on a Mattie Nuccio double.

Tara Tursellino went the distance in the circle for DSU, allowing just one run on four hits while improving to 3-3 on the season. Blue Hen starter Carolyn Szymanski dropped to 3-2 after giving up four runs, two earned, on four hits in 4.1 innings of work, before Jordan Cargile fired 2.2 frames of scoreless relief.

Bucknell (7-4) then jumped on Delaware for four runs in the top of the first inning, highlighted by RBI singles from Jacee Almond, Lauren Hadley and Christina Martinez. The Bison added five more in the second, including a bases-clearing triple by Anna Gimmestad, to increase the margin to 9-0.

After two more Bucknell runs in the top of the third, Delaware pushed across a tally in the bottom half as Leanna Gearhart reached on an error, moved to second on a Nuccio groundout, and scored on an RBI single to rightfield by Kondravy.

Bison pitcher Amanda Fazio allowed just the one unearned run and did not walk a batter in five innings, as she improved to 3-2 this season. UD starter Kiersten Coffman gave up nine runs on seven hits in an inning-plus, as she fell to 5-3 on the campaign. Kondravy led the way offensively with a pair of hits for the Blue Hens.

In the third game of the day, Bucknell and Delaware State were tied 9-9 in the top of the sixth inning when the game was suspended due to darkness. It will be resumed at 10 a.m. today, prior to the regularly scheduled three games on the day.