The University of Mary Washington baseball team scored runs in each of the first five innings in building a 10-5 lead and held on for a 10-9 win over St. Mary's College in the first round of the Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday morning in Newport News, Va. The Eagles improve to 10-15 on the season, and will face host Christopher Newport University at 4 p.m.
The Eagles forged ahead with a run in the first inning on a single from Caleb McAlister and an RBI single by Ty Lowe. After St. Mary's scored once, Sam Freeborne was hit by a pitch to lead off the second, and Noah Roots followed with an RBI double.
The Eagles' big inning came in the third, as they scored four runs. Lowe reached with a one out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single from Nick Ciuffreda. Freeborne singled and Roots walked to load the bases, and Bobby Ayscue delivered a bases-clearing double to the Eagles in front, 6-1.
The Seahawks rallied for two runs in the fourth, but the Eagles answered with a pair in their half, as Jonathan Sedmak singled and Garrett Lyons was hit by a pitch to set up Ciuffreda for another RBI single. Lyons scored on a wild pitch to put the Eagles ahead, 8-3.
SMC added two more runs in the fifth, and again UMW answered with two of their own. Ayscue walked to lead off the inning, advanced on a sacrifice, and scored on a single from McAlister. Sedmak was hit by a pitch and Lyons walked to load the bases, and Lowe provided a sacrifice fly to run the lead to 10-9. The Seahawks scrapped for two runs in the sixth and two in the eighth, but Lowe came in to close the game and retired the side on 11 pitches in gaining the save.
Lowe singled twice and doubled in addition to gaining the save, and Ayscue singled and doubled with three RBI. Ciuffreda and McAlister each had a pair of hits. Alex Kyte gained the win in relief, allowing two runs on six hits in 1.1 innings in relief of Zach Adams, who allowed five runs in four innings on nine hits.Ryan Dudak pitched 1.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit with four strikeouts.
The Eagles will take on Christopher Newport today at 4 p.m., after the conclusion of the 12:30 tilt between the Captains and Seahawks.