ARLINGTON, Va. – The Marymount (Va.) University baseball team hosted Western Connecticut State University for a three-game series over the weekend, pulling out a 4-3 victory on Saturday night before dropping a pair of seven-inning games on Sunday at Barcroft Park. 

Game One: Marymount 4, Western Connecticut State 3 

In a defensive battle through the opening innings of game one, the Saints struck first in the bottom of the third off the bat of freshman Luke Tyree. Sending a hard shot to right center, Tyree brought around sophomore Stephen Berczek and junior Roy Coates to push the 2-0 advantage over the Colonials, although his attempt to get to third base on the hit was eliminated on a long throw from right field to the third baseman for the out. 

The Colonials brought across three runs in the fifth inning to take over the lead, but Marymount was the last team to bring across runners over home plate, tacking on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to take reclaim the advantage that would hold, 4-3. With juniors Brandon Orbe and Ben Berczek in scoring position, freshman Evan Todd sent a hard grounder to shortstop who scooped it up and threw to first base. But, the Colonial couldn't pull it in as it soared to the fence sending both Orbe and Berczek home while Todd moved to second on the error.  

Senior Charlie DiGiulian recorded the win on the mound, pitching 2.1 innings of relief without giving up a hit, while Ben Berczek pitched the final two innings to notch his first save of the season. 

Game Two: Western Connecticut State 1, Marymount 0        

The Saints and Colonials opened up Sunday morning with a pitchers' duel between sophomore Dylan Gerdts and Western Connecticut's Craig Frobel, both players throwing complete games on the mound. 

The first two innings were pretty quick, seeing no hits or base runners on either side, but in the top of the third the lone score for the game would cross home plate. Gerdts worked the first batter into a fly out to junior Lorenzo Calderon in right field before walking the next batter. Following another fly out, this time to Tyree in center field, the Colonials next batter smacked a ball to left center for a double, bringing home the runner from first for the 1-0 advantage. 

Gerdts continued to pitch well for the remainder of the game, only giving up three more hits through his seven innings on the mound, but Frobel continued to pitch well on Western Connecticut's end eventually working the lineup for a no-hitter. 

Coates was the only Saint in the contest to make it onto base, earning a walk in his second at-bat. 

Game Three: Western Connecticut State 10, Marymount 4 

The Saints jumped out early in the final game on Sunday afternoon, putting three runs up on the scoreboard in the first inning. Ben Berczek got the scoring started for MU with runners in scoring position, hitting a hard grounder into right field sending Calderon home from third and moving freshman Conner Hall to third. With the right fielder making a poor throw to the cutoff, Hall rounded third base and headed home to take the 2-0 lead. 

Orbe worked his way onto base after Berczek with a single to right field, moving Berczek to third. With no outs in the inning, Orbe attempted to make the steal to second, distracting the Colonials during the pickle while Berczek slid into home plate for the third run of the inning. 

Western Connecticut eventually brought its first runner across in the fourth inning, hitting a RBI single of starting pitcher Hall to left field. Hall worked out of the inning on the next at-bat, catching the Colonial batter looking on the strikeout. 

Sophomore Kaden Darrow and freshman Michael Wade helped the Saints answer in the bottom half of the inning, as Darrow lined a hard grounder to shortstop who allowed Darrow to reach on a fielder's choice as he threw home to try and throw out the lead runner, Wade, who slide under the glove of the catcher for the 4-1 lead. 

Over the next three innings, the Colonials' bats got hot, bringing around nine runs to seal up the 10-4 win in the final game. 

The Saints continue their home stand on Tuesday, March 1, as they host No. 16 Shenandoah University at Nationals Youth Academy. First pitch is set for 12:45 p.m.