WEST LIBERTY, Iowa – Mikey Hernandez (Jr.-Lennox, Calif.) clubbed two home runs as part of a huge sixth inning and the Lakeland University baseball team roared back from six runs down to defeat Cornell (Iowa) College 19-7 in the second game of the teams' season-opening doubleheader Friday evening.

Hernandez hit a two-run homer and came back around to add a three-run blast as part of a massive 12-run sixth inning as the Muskies earned a split on their opening day. Cornell edged Lakeland 7-6 in the first game of the twinbill played on the field at West Liberty High School, 35 miles south of Cornell's campus in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

Lakeland trailed 7-1 after three innings in the second game, as the Rams scored two runs without a hit in the second inning and then added five runs in the third with the help of just two hits. The Muskies' comeback started with a four-run fifth inning that included J.T. Cortinas (Jr.-Chino Hills, Calif.) and Jordan Domingue (Jr.-Victorville, Calif.) driving in runs with walks and Logan South (So.-Oswego, Ill.) and Chris Day (Sr.-Victorville, Calif.) sending in runs after being hit by pitches.

The sixth inning was an offensive explosion, with Lakeland sending 15 men to the plate and piling up 10 hits in the inning to blow the game open. Hernandez opened the scoring with a two-run home run. Domingue, Day and Sam Goodrum (Fr.-Fort Collins, Colo.) all drove in runs with hits, Sean Gregorius (So.-Germantown, Wis.) hit a sacrifice fly and Hernandez later followed with his second homer of the inning, a three-run shot to make it 15-7. South followed two batters later with a two-run homer of his own, his first collegiate homer putting the cap on the 12-run frame.

Gregorius added a two-run home run of his own in the seventh to put a cap on a huge opening night in which he went 7-for-9 at the plate with two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs and four runs scored.

Owen Fekety (Fr.-Lancaster, Calif.) came on in relief in the third inning and after a rocky start went on to pitch the final five innings to earn his first collegiate win. Fekety allowed just one hit and no runs over the final four innings and finished with seven strikeouts.

The opening game went back and forth, with Lakeland first taking a 3-0 lead before Cornell came back to tie at 4-4 in the fifth and then took a 6-4 lead an inning later. The Muskies came back to tie it up, with Gregorius hitting a sac fly in the seventh and then Hernandez walking with the bases loaded to knot the score at 6-6, but the Rams scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Luke Hull walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a balk and then reached third on a failed pickoff attempt. A pair of intentional walks loaded the bases and Rily Roberts (So.-Chattanooga, Tenn.) struck out Jimmy Moltini, but Elias Diaz came on as a pinch hitter and walked with the bases loaded to end the game.

Gregorius went 3-for-4 in the first game with four runs driven in and Cortinas and Bryce Backus (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) added two hits each. Jonathan Maldonado (Jr.-La Puente, Calif.) started and pitched five innings, allowing six hits and four runs with five strikeouts, while Roberts threw 2 2/3 innings and took the loss, allowing one run without a hit, striking out three and walking four.