Auburndale, FL - The Lyndon State College baseball dropped its opening game, 14-8, to Capital University at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Auburndale, FL on Tuesday.  Capital improves to 3-2 on the season.

Lyndon got on the board first in the top of the thrid inning.  Zach Hale (St. Johnsbury, VT) started things with a two-out single.  Following a walk to Zak Johnson (East Hampton, CT), Ryan Cordiero (Rollinsford, NH) belted a three-run home run to put the Hornets on top.  Capital answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie things up.  Preston Smith (Bloomsfield Hills, MI) singled to start things off.  Beau Otto (Cincinnati, OH) then reached on an error and Tyler Osborne (Newark, OH) drew a walk.  Daniel Walters (Concord, OH) was hit by a pitch, scoring Smith.  Connor Hopkins (Highland Heights, OH) then singled home Otto and Osborne.

The Hornets regained the lead in the top of the fourth when Ben Rollins (Lincolnville, ME) reached with a two-out single.  After a walk to Michael Pena (New City, NY), Chris April (Rollinsford, NH) singled home Rollins to make it 4-3 Lyndon.  Capital again was able to tie things up in the bottom half of the inning, as Otto reached on a fielder's choice and eventually scored on a single by Walters.

Capital tookk the lead in the bottom of the fifth.  Drew Ellis (Doylestown, OH) reached on a walk to start the inning.  Mitchell Bodden (Liberty Township, OH) followed with a single, and Smith walked to load the bases.  Otto reached on an error, scoring Ellis and Bodden, then Walters singled in two more runs to make it 8-4 Capital.  The  Crusaders added a run in the bottom of the sixth when Ben Bethay (Lagrange, KY) led off with a double and later scored on Smith's doouble.

Capital broke things open with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh, as Joe Caporale (Mayfield, OH) doubled home two runs, then came around to score on a single by Bethay.  The Hornets then got one run back in the top of the eighth as Andre Eason Jr. (Waterbury, CT) walked to open the inning and came around to score on a Rollins single.

The Hornets would plate three runs in the top of the ninth to make things interesting.  Hale walked to start the inning and Collin Clark (Rutland, VT) pinch ran for him.  Johnson then reached on an error.  Clark came in to score on a fielder's choice, with Johnson coming home on a wild pitch.  Ryder Thornton (Essex, VT) then reached on an error and scored on a Rollins single.

The Hornets will play twice on Wednesday at RussMatt.  They will square off against Neumann University at 1:00 pm, and follow that with a 4:30 pm contest against Hanover College.  Capital returns to action Thursday at RussMatt.