The Case Western Reserve University baseball team turned in another split of a doubleheader against a quality opponent early in the season defeating Washington & Jefferson College 9-1 in the first game of the day and falling 10-1 in the late contest during the team's home-opening games at Nobby's Ballpark on Sunday.

The Spartans stand at 4-4 overall on the season following the Sunday split. Washington and Jefferson, which received votes in the latest D3baseball.com Top-25 poll, moved to 5-2 for the campaign.

Senior shortstop Trey Haley went four-for-six with a run, a double, and three RBI over the two games, and senior catcher Jack Anderson added a four-for-seven showing with three runs, two doubles, and an RBI. CWRU pitchers struck out 21 batters over 18 innings during the doubleheader.

Game 1 – CWRU 9, W&J 1
Sophomore pitcher Kyle Gearding threw six strong innings and the Spartans' offense backed him with big innings in the third and sixth to beat the Presidents 9-1 in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Gearding earned his first win of the season with the effort, improving to 1-0 on the year and lowering his ERA to 2.70 through his first two starts. He scattered seven hits and a walk and struck out seven in the game.

Anderson went three-for-four in the game with a double, two runs, and an RBI, and Haley was two-for-three with a run, a double, three RBIs, and a walk.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when first-year outfielder Matt Trout broke the tie with a two-out, two-RBI double. CWRU then loaded the bases after sophomore outfielder Jay Smith and senior first baseman Nick Talarico were each hit by pitches, and Haley cleared the bases with a three-run double, putting the Spartans in front 5-0.

The Presidents pulled closer with a run in the top of the fourth, but in the bottom of the sixth, run-scoring singles from junior third baseman Tim Demetris, Anderson, and Smith, and a sacrifice fly by junior designated hitter Zack Carinci gave the Spartans a 9-1 advantage.

Junior Patrick O'Connor allowed just one hit over the final three scoreless innings of the game, striking out a pair and closing out the win for the Spartans with his second save of the year.

Presidents' starter Ethan Marszalek suffered the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year.

Game 2 – W&J 10, CWRU 1
The second game of the day was the opposite story, with the Presidents taking advantage of nine walks and four hit batters to score 10 runs and defeat the Spartans 10-1.

The Spartans' lone run in the game came in the bottom of the third when Anderson scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore outfielder Nick Harms, cutting a 5-0 deficit to four runs. However, the Presidents added on two runs in the fifth, one in the seventh, and two in the eighth to pull away late.

Carinci went two-for-three with a pair of doubles, and Haley added two more hits over three at-bats in the late game.

Senior Sankalp Doshi started and took the loss for the Spartans, falling to 0-1 on the season. Tyler Horvat went seven strong innings for Washington and Jefferson, earning the win to improve to 2-1.

Next up for the Spartans will be a trip to Lexington, South Carolina for a four-game series against 20^th-ranked Cortland at Lexington County Baseball Stadium. The series will begin a week from today with a doubleheader on Sunday, March 12 starting at 1:00 p.m.