There had not been many close games for John Carroll's baseball club in the early part of the 2019 schedule. The average margin has been seven runs over the first five games.

Playing -- and winning -- a close game was a chance for the Blue Streaks to show their mettle. After giving up the first run, JCU fought its way back and then staved off a late rally to defeat Wartburg College, 3-2, Monday in Davenport, Florida.

After being delayed by an hour at the start, John Carroll was set to square off against Wartburg.  It was a pitching duel from the get-go as Mitch Midea faced Ben Milewski from Wartburg.

The freshman Midea was locked in and had both his fastball and breaking pitch working from the first inning.  Midea didn't allow a hit until the third inning and only surrendered four over his seven innings of work. Those seven innings would be the longest outing of any Blue Streak starter this year.

The Knights jumped on the board first in the fifth inning when they had men on first and third with no outs.  Tyler Hovick grounded into a double play, but the runner on third would come in to score, giving Wartburg a 1-0 advantage.

Dom Mittiga answered in the next half inning. With two outs and no one on base, Mittiga hit a ball way out of the park into the next field over. The solo shot tied the game at 1-1.

Midea would shut down the Knights in the bottom half of the sixth to keep the game deadlocked going into the seventh.

The Blue Streaks started the seventh off with a bang as Joe Charpentier doubled and Dave Ferguson singled to set up first and third.  With one out John Bondi stepped to the plate.

The senior, getting his first start of the year, made the start count when he push bunted to the right side.  The ball was just hard enough to get past the pitcher and slow enough to let Bondi get to first base safely. Charpentier came around to score to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Blue Streaks, giving them their first lead of the game.

"He (Bondi) was the right guy for the job," said assistant coach Ryan Nordquist about the play. "We (the coaching staff) had confidence that he would do the job well."

John Carroll tacked on another run on a Patrick Keohane sacrifice fly that scored Ferguson.

Midea was set to go to the mound leading 3-1. After allowing a couple of walks, Midea struck out a batter and got another to fly out to right fielder Derek Penman, ending the seventh with a 3-1 lead still intact.

Jack Bennett came to close the game, looking to get the six-out save.  After allowing an unearned run in the eighth, the freshman would be challenged to protect a one-run lead going into the ninth.

Bennett would be calm under the pressure.  After the first Knight singled, Charpentier made what turned out to be the play of the game. The junior catcher threw an absolute strike down to second to nail the runner trying to steal for the first out of the inning.

With two outs, a Knight reached on an error and another walked putting two on with two outs.  Bennett proved his maturity when he struck out the final batter, who had singled off of him in the inning before.

"My breaking ball was working well," said Midea. "I was able to throw it with confidence in high leverage situations."

With the win, the Blue Streaks moved to 5-1, while the Knights go to 1-1 on the year.  This is Midea's first career win and Bennett's first career save.

The 5-1 start matches the team's start from a year ago. It is also just the sixth time in team history that the Blue Streaks have won at least five of their first six games (2001, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2018)