SAINT LEO, Fla. - It took almost an entire day, but Saint Leo Baseball ultimately got past Delta State, 6-3, and eliminated the Statesmen to move on in the NCAA South Regional Tournament. 

When the ballgame started on Friday, Saint Leo got down early in the first inning, 3-0, after Delta State used a two-run single and a RBI double, all with nobody out against Lions' starter Dariel Fregio, to take an early lead. 

But then in the third inning, Saint Leo started to gain some momentum. Giuseppe Arcuri and Buck Anderson drew back-to-back two-out walks to bring Tyler Trovinger to the plate. He then brought home Arcuri on a RBI single to left, cutting the lead to 3-1. 

Just when Dariel Fregio was settling into a rhythm, sitting down eight of the next nine batters after the first inning, Mother Nature rolled in and forced the rest of the tournament on Friday to be postponed and Delta State and Saint Leo to continue the game on Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M. 

After the restart, Huston Richter was dominant with 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up five hits and striking out five and only walking one. 

Then in the seventh inning, the bats came alive for Saint Leo with five runs to take the lead. First it was Sam Crail with a two-run double with only one out to tie the ballgame at 3-3. Then with two on and two out, Eddie Niemann took Delta State's reliever Trace McNabb deep to left for his third home run of the season, a three-run bomb to give Saint Leo a 6-3 lead. 

Jestin Jones came on in the ninth to shut the Statesmen down, earning his ninth save of the year. The Lions move to 36-16 on the season, and will move to play in the fifth game of the NCAA South Regional Tournament on Saturday night against the loser of Lee vs Rollins.