Craig McAllister (no. 4) of Red Lion attempts to catch the ball to get the runner out in the final inning of the DIAA Baseball tournament Tuesday afternoon at Dover High School
Jacob Stollings (20) of Red Lion takes a swing at a low ball in Tuesday’s DIAA tournament game.
Semaj Kelly (19) of Dover slides into second base as Noah Dahllof (1) of Red Lion throws the ball to first base attempting a double play in Tuesday’s DIAA tournament game.
Jordan Hutchins (No. 2) of Dover slides back into first base as Craig McAllister (no. 4) of Red Lion waits for the pitch back to him in Tuesday’s DIAA tournament game at Dover High School.
Garrett Lawson (no. 16) of Dover throws a pitch to in Tuesday’s DIAA tournament game against Red Lion.
Avery Tunnell (7) of Dover celebrates with teammate Terren Yanero (3) in Tuesday’s DIAA tournament game against Red Lion.
DOVER – It took Garrett Lawson an inning to find the range on the mound.
It didn’t take him any time to find the range at the plate.
Lawson blasted a two-run homer as Dover sent 13 men to the plate in the first inning and scored seven runs on the way to a 10-3 victory over Red Lion Christian on Tuesday in the second round of the DIAA Baseball Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Senators (17-2) advanced to play No. 12 Archmere — a 7-1 winner over fifth-seeded Appoquinimink on Monday — in the quarterfinals on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.
The left-handed Lawson walked two and uncorked a couple of wild pitches as the 13th-seeded Lions (17-3) scored a run in the top of the first. But he did plenty to help himself in the bottom of the first.
Jordan Hutchins lined a one-out single, and Lawson splattered one over the right-field fence for a 2-1 lead.
“We’ve been working with his swing so he won’t cut himself off so much,” Dover coach Dave Gordon said. “He absolutely hit a laser beam out of here. That definitely lifted us up right away, and that’s what a senior does.”
The Senators’ uprising was far from over. Two errors and a hit batsman loaded the bases, and Semaj Kelly followed with a two-run single. Terren Yanero drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, Avery Tunnell singled and Jarvis Worthy followed with a two-run double to make it 7-1.
Worthy led off the Dover third with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lawson. The Senators added single runs in the fourth and fifth.
Lawson settled down on the mound, too, retiring five straight at one point. He pitched only three innings, as three other Senators finished up to save Dover’s arms for the rest of the tournament.
“Just a little pumped up,” Gordon said of Lawson’s early struggle. “Still looked good with his velocity. Just a little bit out in front, but you saw him make the adjustment in the second and third innings.”
Middletown rallies in the seventh to top DMA baseball
Red Lion Christian 6, Milford 5
Xander Emberger’s one-out single in the bottom of the 10th scored Noah Dahloff with the winning run as the Lions won the completion of a suspended game earlier Tuesday to earn the right to play Dover in the second round.
Red Lion and No. 20 seed Milford (9-10) battled to a 5-5 tie through nine innings Monday at Red Lion before a thunderstorm suspended the game. The teams bused to Dover High to resume Tuesday, and the Buccaneers went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th.
Then Dahloff singled, Jaret Bush moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt and Emberger lashed the winning hit to set off a celebration.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.