SANFORD, Florida - The Case Western Reserve University baseball team jumped out to a 6-0 lead and hung on for a 8-5 win over Washington University in St. Louis in the opening game of the 2015 UAA Baseball Championship, the Spartans' first game of the season.

Sophomore right-hander Jake Shields (Hamilton, OH/Ross Senior) did not allow a run in 7.2 innings before the Bears scored five consecutive two-out runs off Shields and reliever Dan Sondag, cutting the deficit to one run.

Sondag retired the side in order in the ninth inning to earn the save.

The Spartans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Sophomore centerfielder Antonio Damiano (Naples, FL/Gulf Coast) drove in senior leftfielder William Meador (Columbus, OH/Worthington Kilbourne) with a bases loaded infield single for a 1-0 lead. Senior shortstop Kerrigan Cain (Hartville, OH/Archbishop Hoban) drove in freshman second baseman Alex Capetillo (Cincinnati, OH/Turpin) with a scarifice fly before Jordan Swisher delivered a run-scoring single to center, scoring sophomore rightfielder Aaron Cain (Hartville, OH/Archbishop Hoban).

The Spartans put up another three-spot in the fourth inning. Senior first baseman Robert Winemiller (Twinsburg, OH/University School) led off with a double and Meador followed with a bloop single into right field. Captetillo followed with a double off the wall to score Winemiller. After a RBI groundout from Aaron Cain, Damiano hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Capetillo.

After Washington cut the lead to one run, the Spartans tallied two runs in the top of the ninth inning. Capetillo walked, advanced to second and third on balks, and scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Kerrigan Cain singled in Damiano.

Capetillo finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a run batted in. Damiano and Kerrigan Cain each finished with two RBI.

The Spartans return to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. against second-ranked Emory University in a matchup of the 2014 UAA co-champions.