ARLINGTON, Va. – The Marymount (Va.) University baseball team continues to build on a program-setting season with a doubleheader sweep of St. Mary's College of Maryland on Monday afternoon at Bishop O'Connell High School in Capital Athletic Conference play, moving its win streak to a league-best eight games while Head Coach Frank Leoni notched his 500th collegiate victory. 

Game One: Marymount 14, St. Mary's 11 

Sophomore Collin Bazemore started on the mound for the Saints in the first nine-inning game, tossing four no-hit innings with five strikeouts before the blue and white put up four runs to take a lead that wouldn't falter throughout the remainder of the contest. 

In the bottom of the fourth, the right-field fence saw some attention with two balls getting launched over it into the streets of Arlington. Junior Roy Coates stepped into the batter's box with two runners in scoring position, juniors Ben Berczek and Brandon Orbe, and sent out his first home run of his three-year collegiate career to put the Saints up 3-0. Two batters later, sophomore Kaden Darrow replicated Coates' shot over the right-field fence for his first homer of the season. 

In the top of the fifth, the Seahawks got to Bazemore, crossing two runs over home plate, which eventually brought in junior John LaMotta for relief. LaMotta worked the mound for two innings, giving up just one hit and fanning one to earn his fifth victory of the season. 

The Saints answered in the bottom half of the inning with two more runs when Orbe brought home junior Lorenzo Calderon on a fielder's choice and scored later in the inning himself off a wild pitch. 

St. Mary's cut its deficit to one in the top of the seventh with three runs, but Marymount followed up the next two innings with eight more runs to seal up the victory. In the bottom of the seventh in his first game back in the batter's box, senior Ryan Blake blasted a deep shot to right center to clear a load-bases situation for a three RBI double. 

In the eighth, Orbe and sophomore Stephen Berczek both registered two RBI singles, while Coates brought home another to put the Saints up 14-5. 

The Seahawks made a last-ditch effort in the top of the ninth with six runs, but junior Jake Kniatt put the final touch on the game getting the last out on the mound. 

With the victory, Leoni earned his 500th victory as a collegiate Head Coach. The three-year leader of the program coached 20 years at the Division I level at the University of Rhode Island and the College of William & Mary prior to heading the new program at Marymount. 

Game Two: Marymount 7, St. Mary's 2 

Sophomore Dylan Gerdts pitched a gem of a game two for the Saints, tossing seven scoreless innings for just four hits and one run, while registering a career-high eight strikeouts. 

While Gerdts and a strong defensive backing by the Saints' fielding behind him kept the Seahawks tamed, the blue and white put two runs on the board in the third and fourth. 

In the bottom of the third, junior Brandon Savage cracked a single to right field to bring home Calderon for the 1-0 lead. In the follow inning, Stephen Berczek lined a grounder up the middle into center field to bring home his brother, Ben Berczek, to move the Saints to a two-run lead. 

By the top of the eighth, the Seahawks drew the score even at 2-2, but Marymount answered with a crushing five-run bottom half of the inning to put away game two for the doubleheader sweep and remain undefeated in league play. 

Freshman Luke Tyree got the scoring started when he sent a high-fly ball to left field that was mishandled by the left fielder, scoring Coates. With a bases-loaded scenario, Savage stepped up and delivered with a deep shot to right center to clear the bases and advance to third. Orbe capped off the scoring for the Saints with a RBI single to left field to bring home Savage. 

Ben Berczek finished off the game on the mound in the top of the ninth for his first win of the season, working out of a jam with a strikeout and a grounder to third base that transitioned into a game-ending double play. 

The Saints move to 14-9 for the season, 6-0 in the CAC. They remain the only team in the league with a perfect record. 

The men are back in action on Wednesday, March 23 with a nine-inning game against CAC-foe No. 10 Salisbury University at Bishop O'Connell. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.