Florida A&M broke open a close game in the late innings of an 11-2 win over Delaware State in a MEAC baseball Tournament third-round contest at Arthur W. Purdue Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

Top-seeded Florida A&M advances to Saturday’s championship round as the only unbeaten team in the double-elimination tournament.  The third-seeded Hornets will face either Norfolk State or Bethune-Cookman in an elimination game on Friday.

A DSU win on Friday would set up a rematch with Florida A&M in Saturday’s championship round.

Delaware State led 1-0 before the Rattlers scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the lead for good. Florida A&M added a run in the seventh and five more in the eighth to blow the game open.

Delaware State starter Zach Candeloro (Caesar Rodney) held the Rattlers at bay for the first five innings, allowing just three singles and striking out three. Candeloro was relieved by Hunter McVey after giving up three hits to begin the Florida A&M sixth.

The Hornets got a run back in the eighth on a one-out single by Austin Bentley to score Justin Allen, who singled earlier in the inning. Bentley had two of Delaware State’s seven hits in the contest.

Delaware 8, Towson 2: The Blue Hens earned a spot in next week’s Colonial Athletic Association Tournament with the win on Thursday.

It marks the fourth straight year Delaware will play in the tourney. The Hens (10-12 CAA, 22-21 overall) are assured the No. 5 seed.

Pitcher Adam Davis earned his team-leading fifth victory of the season Thursday and the right-hander pitched his best in the toughest situations against Towson.

Davis forced Towson to strand four runners in scoring position in his 6.2 innings of work. The only run surrendered by the senior came in the fifth inning on a Mark Grunberg RBI single.

Norm Donkin drove in three runs for Delaware while Calvin Scott had a two-run, two-out double in the fourth.

Baseball

Caesar Rodney 7, Hodgson 2: Winning pitcher Levi Kapp threw a five-hitter with five strikeouts for the Riders, who finished off the victory with three runs in the sixth.

Quintin Ivy (triple, 1 RBI), Jake Williams (2 RBI), Brennen Brown (1 RBI), Connor Zaia and Brett Horne all had two hits as CR finished with 13 in the contest.

Milford 5, St. Elizabeth 3: The Buccaneers scored a total of five runs in their last three at-bats to pull out a nonconference win.

Starting pitcher Cole Davis earned the win while Michael Saxon and Thomas Jordan both tripled.

Lake Forest 9, Laurel 3: Winning pitcher Dillon Cole struck out seven and didn’t allow an earned run for the Spartans.

Curtis Reed (3 hits, 2 RBI), Tyler Cauthren (2 hits, 3 RBI) and Eric Berardicelli (2 hits) all led Lake’s 12-hit attack.

Softball

Polytech 10, Red Lion Christian 0: Shaina Reed tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts as the Panthers improved to 15-1.

Whitney DeMora was 3-for-4 while Taylor Pechin went 2-for-2 with three RBI for Polytech, which scored four runs in the fourth inning to open up an 8-0 lead.

Caravel 5, Smyrna 1: Holly Brooks pitched a three-hitter with 12 strikeouts to lead the Buccaneers.

Laurel 10, Lake Forest 2: Regan Green pitched a six-hitter, struck out 17 and hit a two-run homerun to pace the Bulldogs to the conference win.

Kat Betts and Catera Kennedy had two hits each with a double for the Spartans.

Lacrosse

BOYS, Salesianum 17, Caesar Rodney 6: The Sals (12-3) scored the game’s first five goals before cruising to the victory.

Thomas Aloe netted three goals for the Riders (13-2).

St. Elizabeth 14, St. Thomas More 7: William Thomas had five goals and an assist to pace the Ravens.

Akhil Patel added a pair of goals while Jon Titus made nine saves.

Tennis

State tourney bracket set: Caesar Rodney High has three of the 10 top seeds in the DIAA boys’ and girls’ state tennis brackets that were released on Thursday.

The Riders’ Natasha Sijan (third singles) and the team of Megan Jones-Clare Mangubat (second doubles) are seeded No. 1 in the girls’ tourney while CR’s Donnan Gravelle (third singles) is a top seed on the boys’ side.

The tournaments start on Saturday with first-round matches at 10 a.m. at various sites in Kent and New Castle County. The top eight seeds then face the winners in second-round matches that begin approximately an hour after the opening matches end.

Besides Gravelle, the top seeds in the boys’ tourney are Tower Hill’s Robby Ward (first singles), Drew Manning (second singles) and Malcolm Johnson-James Fleming (first doubles) along with Tatnall’s Elliott Ward-Kasey Leach (second doubles).

Besides the two CR entries, the No. 1 seeds in the girls’ tournament are Wilmington Friends’ Annie Jaskulski (first singles) and Joslyn Gardner-Alicia Thompson (first doubles) along with Tower Hill’s Grace Dignazio (second singles).

At first singles, Henlopen Conference champion Colt Williamson is seeded second at boys’ first single while the Riders’ Halle Parker, the girls’ Henlopen champ, is No. 3 at first singles.