The Case Western Reserve University baseball team jumped out to an early lead on Tuesday afternoon, en route to the team's fifth-straight win, as the Spartans defeated the University of Rochester 8-1 during the third day of competition at the 2016 University Athletic Association Championships in Sanford, Florida.

The win raised the Spartans' UAA record to 3-0, as the squad assured itself a game lead on the rest of the conference after the third day of play.  Washington University (Mo.) is in second with a 2-1 record, while Emory University and Brandeis University, who will play the late game on Tuesday, are each 1-1.  Rochester dropped to 1-2 at the tournament, while New York University stands at 0-3.

The win was the sixth in the last seven games for the Spartans, who improved to 6-4 overall.  The Yellowjackets fell to 1-2 with the loss.

Junior Preston Williams started and earned the win in the game to improve to 1-0 on the year.  He lowered his ERA to 1.64 after allowing just one earned run on six hits through five innings, striking out three and walking a pair.  Sophomore southpaw Liam Killingstad added three scoreless innings of relief, surrendering just one hit, and sophomore Nate Glasser closed the contest out with a scoreless ninth.

Glasser also started the game as the team's designated hitter, going three-for-five with a double, an RBI, a run scored.  Junior centerfielder Aaron Cain, sophomore first baseman Daniel Watson and junior leftfielder Josh Neal each added a pair of hits in Tuesday's game, and the Spartans combined to steal six more bases in the contest, and have 19 stolen bases on 20 attempts through the first three games of the tournament.

Cain started the scoring for the Spartans in the first, walking to open the game, and later scoring on fielder's choice.  Watson and Neal each added RBI singles later in the inning to extend the lead to 3-0.  Glasser added an RBI double in the second, and Neal drove in his second run of the game with a single in the third, pushing the lead to 5-0 after three innings.

Rochester would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a base hit.  However, Case Western Reserve responded with a pair in the fifth on RBI singles from junior rightfielder Tony Damiano and Cain.  The Spartans capped off their scoring in the sixth, when freshman shortstop Rocco Maue scored on a wild pitch.

Freshman Jack Denzer, making the first start of his collegiate career, took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year.  Ryan Spurr had two of the eight Rochester hits in the game.

The Spartans will be back in action on Wednesday, when the team takes on New York University at 2:00 p.m. at Sanford Memorial Stadium.