The Misericordia University baseball team scored four times in the first and held on in a nervy final inning to defeat Mt. St. Mary, 6-5, Wednesday at Disney World.

Down 6-2 but with the top of order up in the ninth, the Blue Knights pulled to within a run with men on first and second base and just one out. MU ended the rally with a 3-6-3 double play, started by first baseman Andrew Yasinski.

Ryan Dauley earned the win in relief of Max Weintraub and freshman Pete Doggett earned the save.

Junior Nate Newman batted 3-for-5 with an RBI. Bubba Jasinski, Brian Verdelli and Chris Tuttle also recorded RBIs for MU.

The Cougars chased the Mt. St. Mary starter in the top of the first, batting around and scoring four times. Leadoff man Jamie Philippi struck out but reached first on a wild pitch and went on to score. From there, Nick Morreale, Newman and Jeff Slanovec all crossed the plate before the Blue Knights had even had a chance to bat.

The Blue Knights got one back in the bottom of the first, but left the bases loaded. They pulled another run back in the bottom of the second.

Weintraub left after four and was replaced by Dauley, who put the Mt. St. Mary's hitters down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, and again in the sixth.

Newman tripled to lead off the seventh, but MU left empty-handed after a failed squeeze attempt. Mt. St. Mary's threatened in the bottom of the inning but had a man thrown out at home to end the inning.

The Cougars loaded the bases in the eighth, but again were unable to grab the crucial insurance run. The Blue Knights had a runner reach third with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Dauley was able to get out of the jam.

Misericordia tacked on two runs to their tally in the top of the ninth. Kenny Durling and Verdelli each recorded hits before a Mt. St. Mary error scored both runs.

With their fourth victory in a row, the Cougars improve to 6-1 on the season. MU will play Husson in a double-header tomorrow.