Knowing no lead is safe after allowing early leads against Heidleberg to slip away earlier this season, the John Carroll University baseball team jumped on 'Berg starter Chris Thomas chasing the righty from the game after just 1/3 of an inning.

John Carroll had not won its opening game of the OAC Tournament since 2001. The Blue Streaks also had just one OAC Tournament win since 2009.

Determined to start strong in the OAC Tournament and stay in the winner's bracket, the Blue Streaks used a strong offensive start to push past the No. 11/13 Student Princes 13-7. John Carroll improved to 22-14 while Heidelberg fell to 31-10.

JCU executed from the get-go to score just two batters into the game when Bobby Sabatino executed on a hit and run to send Robby Cifelli all of the way around from first. From there John Carroll's hitters made solid contact with Chet Lauer, Tyler Gentile and David Crowley and recording RBI base hits.

"I thought we ran the bases really well today," said head coach Marc Thibeault. "We followed the baseball and picked up the coach. Again we told the guys we have to be aggressive while we're down here. That's where you can gain the energy and the momentum from the other team. If you stay that way you can keep the momentum which will give you a better chance to score. All of the way through we did a great job with two strikes keeping it on the line or on the ground."

The Blue and Gold kept building their lead in the third inning added two more runs to open up a 7-0 lead. Gentile, one of the conference's top hitters as of late, stayed hot with his second RBI of the day. The third baseman would score the second run of the frame coming across on a wild pitch.

JCU pushed its lead to 9-0 an inning later with Mitchell Herringshaw coming on a wild pitch 'Berg catcher Alex Grove could not find the ball in the dirt. Lauer, being alert, advanced all of the way to third on the pitch and would score as Jimmy Spagna scooted a grounder over a diving Andrew Zenczak's outstretched glove.

"The kids had a good approach," said Thibeault. "We kind of knew from playing them in the past what their game plan was going to be. We worked on it this week. We worked on it today in batting practice. Our guys did a great job keeping the inside pitch fair and then attacking the pitch that was out over the plate. I think we were aggressive. We threw some hit and runs in there. We played like it was a tight game even though we were ahead because runs are at a premium down here playing such a condensed schedule. You want to score as much as you can so the pitching staff is not always in a pressure cooker. I'm really proud of the kids today and how they swung the bat."

Two innings later back-to-back triple off the hot bats of Sabatino and Lauer pushed JCU's lead to 11-0.

Continuing its strong defense the Blue Streaks turned two double plays in the game to help out sophomore Aaron Lapaglia. Shortstop Mark Huddle started the first one to get the righty out of the third inning and keep the threatening 'Berg off of the scoreboard.

Heidelberg worked its way back into the game getting on the board in the sixth inning. The 'Berg added five runs in the seventh backed by Eric Monroe's 3-run homer. After a throwing error, reliever Mark Materise recovered to strike out TJ Harkness to get the Blue Streaks out of the inning.

Looking for insurance John Carroll came through in the ninth inning taking advantage of two Heidelberg errors. David Lykens drove in Gentile for the inning's first run with Herringshaw being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to push in the second run, putting JCU up 13-6.

Lapaglia improved to 8-2 on the season. The sophomore fired 6 2/3 innings allowing three runs while striking out six. Leading the way offensively were Sabatino, Lauer and Gentile who each had three hits in the game. JCU's two through five hitters finished with 11 hits.

Said Thibeault, "It was all part of the game plan. I think the kids were pretty confident coming in. It fed from one guy to the next that we can do this. This is the approach and let's stay with it. You want to be able to do damage one through nine to extend the lineup and those guys came through."

John Carroll advances to the winner's bracket and will play host Marietta at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 9.