WASHINGTON, D.C. – The top-seeded Marymount University baseball team punched its ticket to its first-ever Atlantic East Conference championship game with a 6-2 victory over third-seeded Cabrini University on Friday afternoon at Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.

Despite the Cavaliers putting up single runs in the first and third innings, senior Drew Mead settled into a strong start on the mound to earn the win. In six innings of action, Mead scattered seven hits, while striking out eight and only allowing two runs.

After Cabrini scored in the third for a 2-0 edge, the Saints broke out for four runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore Bobby Leitzel led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. He came around to score on a single by junior Robby Cable.

Seniors Will DiGiulian and Casey Baker kept the inning alive, reaching a fielder's choice and a walk, respectively. Sophomore Jordan Dickson drove in DiGiulian on a ground out. After junior Alex Lemery walked, Baker and Lemery came in on a line-drive single into right field by junior Ryan Maylie to take a 4-2 lead.

Mead preserved the two-run lead with his impressive outing, before junior Clint Wheeler came in for two no-hit innings of relief in the seventh and eighth.

Marymount got two insurance runs off the bat of Leitzel in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run bomb to right-center field. Senior Bill Wojcik reached on a double, setting up Leitzel's homer.

Freshman Jake Andrews shut the door on Cabrini in the ninth, pitching the final inning and allowing no hits.

The Saints will look to bring home the program's first-ever Atlantic East Conference championship on Saturday. They will play the winner of an elimination game between second-seeded Immaculata University and Cabrini on Saturday in a 2 p.m., contest, with a chance to close out the conference tournament with a victory.