The Newburgh Free Academy baseball team had just lost a two-run lead it held in the top of the fifth inning but responded quickly.

Mason Hoover hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning to break the game open as the Goldbacks scored six runs in the inning to post a 9-3 non-league victory over the John S. Burke Catholic Eagles on Saturday at the Gidney Avenue Field in Newburgh.

“I was looking for a fastball, and drive it up the middle, trying to use the opposite side of the field, but I put a pretty good swing on it off the bat,” Hoover said. “I was looking, too, as it happened to go over the fence.

After losing a two-run lead in the fifth inning, the Goldbacks took advantage of wildness by Burke relief pitcher Jake DeMaro, who hit Tyler Martin and then Joe Ponesse reached on an error by left fielder Tim Brogan to start the inning. DeMaro came back to get Nick Schmidt and Chris Leggett before losing the strike zone again.

He walked Jalen Collins to load the bases and then walked D.J. Clifford to give the Goldbacks a 4-3 lead. Then he forced in another run when he hit Rocco Tammone with a pitch.

That brought up Hoover, and DeMaro had nowhere to put him.

“It was a get-me-over fastball, and he missed the spot, I guess,” Hoover said.

Hoover didn’t miss it, sending it over the center-field fence, pointing his index finger in the air as he rounded first base. It was the second home run the Goldbacks hit in the game. The first was a two-run shot by Nick Schmidt in the fourth inning.

“They’re two young guys, too,” Newburgh coach Scott Seabury said. “We’re playing a bunch of young guys here. They both hit the ball well, and I have all the faith in the world in them.”

The Eagles got their first run of the game when Newburgh starting pitcher John Ahearn walked Jake DeMaro to start the game. DeMaro stole second and then scored on Mason Gove’s sacrifice bunt.

Ahearn followed with three more scoreless innings, allowing all three runs, two of them earned. He walked two and struck out seven.

“Johnny’s a strike thrower,” Seabury said. “Johnny’s around the zone consistently and he mixes very well. He holds runners well. He’s one of the guys that we look to as one of our starting guys.”

However, he ran out of steam in the fifth inning, giving up two straight hits to start the inning. He got Dylan DeMaro out on a sacrifice bunt but was pulled from the game after Tim Brogan’s infield RBI single cut the Goldbacks lead to 1 run.

Brian Merritt followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win and Collins threw a scoreless seventh to finish the game.

“We knew that we didn’t want to get much past 80 pitches so (Ahearn) had a limit anyway,” Seabury said. “So, we got him out, and Brian Merritt came in relief and did a really good job getting us out of a little jam there. And Jalen Collins finished it off at the end throwing strikes.”

Ponesse got the Goldbacks on the board by himself in the second inning, drawing a walk. He took second on a wild pitch and came all the way around to score when Burke catcher’s John Cook’s throw went into center field.

Saturday’s win ends snaps a two-game skid for the Goldbacks, who lost, 4-0, to the Cornwall Dragons on April 4 and 9-3 to the Pine Bush Bushmen on Thursday.

“Once we pick up momentum, we’ll be in a good spot,” Hoover said. “We just need wins and then we’ll be doing all right.”