Case Western Reserve University first-year left-handed pitcher Charlie Griffith and sophomore right-handed pitcher Tyler Stillson combined to allow just one earned run in their 12 innings of work over the two games on Sunday afternoon as the 23rd-ranked Spartans split a doubleheader at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, falling 4-3 in the first game before picking up a 4-1 win in the second contest of the day.

CWRU moved to 11-6 with the split while John Carroll now stands at 12-6 and saw its five-game winning streak end with the game-two loss.

Game 1 - John Carroll 4, CWRU 3

After the CWRU pitching staff held the Blue Streaks scoreless through the first eight innings of the opening game, John Carroll struck for four runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 walk-off win against the Spartans.

Griffith was brilliant on the mound for the Spartans, pitching seven shutout innings and allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out a career-high eight batters in just his second career start. CWRU backed him early with two first-inning runs, scoring just two batters into the game after graduate student catcher Jack Anderson led the contest off with a double and scored on a triple by senior right fielder Nick Harms. Harms later scored in the inning on a two-out single by senior center fielder Logan Andreyko.

The score remained 2-0 until the ninth inning. Griffith pitched out of trouble in the bottom of the first, leaving runners stranded on first and second, worked around a leadoff triple in the fifth, and left two men on base in the seventh, the only times during the outing he allowed multiple base runners in an inning. CWRU extended its lead to 3-0 in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with nobody out and scoring a run on an RBI single by graduate student third baseman Zack Carinci.

In the bottom of the ninth, a hit batter followed by a double led to the Blue Streaks' first run of the inning, and a one-out groundout scored the second run of the frame and cut it to a 3-2 lead. Down to its final out, John Carroll got a single with a wild pitch moving the runner to second, and Connor Mayle followed with a double, tying the game at 3-3. The next batter, Ethan Glossa, hit a ball to center field that was dropped on the fly, allowing the game-winning run to cross the plate.

Andreyko collected two of the team's five hits, finishing the game two-for-four with a run, an RBI, a double, and two stolen bases. Harms went one-for-three with a run, an RBI, a walk, a triple, and a stolen base. Anderson added a one-for-five showing with a double and a run scored, and Carinci finished the game one-for-four with an RBI.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Zach Barnes suffered the loss in relief, dropping to 1-1 on the season while John Carroll's Sean Connolly picked up the win, improving to 2-0.

Game 2 - CWRU 4, John Carroll 1

Stillson and first-year right-handed pitcher Oliver Miller combined to hold John Carroll to one run on five hits and three walks and some late timely hitting helped to push CWRU past the Blue Streaks 4-1 in the second game of the day.

The Spartans jumped out to the quick lead again with a run in the top of the first inning when Stillson doubled with two outs, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an error. With runners on first and third and two outs in the bottom of the second, the Blue Streaks sent the runner on first who got caught in a run-down, allowing the game-tying to score from third, knotting the score at 1-1.

CWRU had a chance to regain the lead in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with one out, but the frame ended on a double play without the go-ahead run scoring.

Stillson, making his second start of the year, ended his outing on the mound after five innings, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and a strikeout in the no-decision. The score remained tied until the eighth when CWRU pushed across the go-ahead run as graduate student second baseman Franco Alonso led the inning off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third, and crossed the plate on a run-scoring fielder's choice hit into by Andreyko. The Spartans added to their lead with a two-out, two-run double by junior catcher Sean Donahue in the top of the ninth, taking a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the inning.

Miller, who took over for Stillson in the sixth and went on to pitch four shutout innings out of the bullpen, then closed out the game by retiring the side in order in the ninth. He earned the win in the game after yielding just two hits and two walks with five strikeouts, improving to 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA through five appearances this season.

CWRU outhit the Blue Streaks 11-5 in the contest. Stillson, Donahue, and Nemec each had two hits in the game, with Donahue also driving in two runs and Andreyjo adding an RBI.

Jay Rinehart suffered the loss in relief for John Carroll, falling to 1-1 on the year.

The Spartans will now turn their attention to University Athletic Association play which is slated to start next weekend. CWRU will kick off its conference title defense against 25th-ranked Washington University (Mo.) with a four-game series from March 28-30 in St. Louis. 

Spartan Notes

• CWRU now stands at 26-24 against John Carroll since 1989. The loss in the first game ended a stretch of five straight wins by CWRU in the series.

• Anderson hit safely in both games to extend his hitting streak to 29 straight games dating back to last season, matching the longest of his career. He is now three games away from the program-record 32-game hitting streak, recorded by Carinci during the 2023 campaign. He totaled two hits on Sunday and now has 256 for his career, seven behind the program record of 263 currently held by former Spartan Chad Mullins (2008-11).

• Griffith became just the second Spartan starter this year to pitch into the seventh inning of a game this season and his seven innings thrown were the most in a game this season by a CWRU pitcher.

• Harms' triple in the first inning of the first game was his fourth of the season, putting him two behind the program's single-season record of six, currently held by former Spartans Gordon Daily (1999) and Jacob Kucia (2019). He now has eight career triples, tied for the eighth-most in program history with Kucia (2016-19) and Tim McQuillin (1988-91).