WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Neumann University baseball team picked up a 13-5 win over Emerson College on Monday afternoon.
 
Josh Cruz started his first game of the 2020 season and went 6.0 innings for the win. He allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits and struck out eight. Billy Hunt pitched 2.0 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits. He struck out four. Pat Leighton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
 
Colin Pollard, Jake Urena and Andrew La Rosa each had three hits in the game. Joe Murray knocked in five runs. La Rosa also scored four runs.
 
Emerson got on the board in the first with two runs. Murray knocked in his first run on an RBI ground out in the second for a 2-1 game. Down 3-1 in the fourth, Murray tripled to score La Rosa and came around to score on a single by Jose Romero.
 
The Knights took the lead in the fourth inning as Urena knocked in Zach Ray. Eric Jester hit a sacrifice fly in the Romero for a 5-3 lead.
 
Neumann plated six runs in the seventh inning to break open the game. Murray knocked in two more runs in the inning. La Rosa and Murray knocked in the final runs in the eighth inning.
 
Neumann (2-2) will face Wartburg College tomorrow morning. First-pitch is slated for 9:45 AM.