The Case Western Reserve University baseball team put up a season-high 17 runs on Monday afternoon to defeat 17^th-ranked Cortland 17-5 at Lexington County Baseball Stadium in Lexington, South Carolina.

The Spartans improved to 5-4 with the win, while Cortland dropped to 5-7 with the setback.

Senior outfielder Kevin Mackenzie went four-for-five with his first career home run while scoring three runs and driving in four. Senior catcher Jack Anderson added four hits in five at bats, including three doubles, with three runs scored and two RBIs, raising his batting average to a team-high .486 for the campaign. Senior shortstop Trey Haley added a one-for-three day at the plate with his first home run of the campaign, while scoring two runs, driving in a pair, and collecting three walks. First-year outfielder Matt Trout went one-for-three with three RBIs in the contest and now has a team-leading 10 RBIs this season.

CWRU totaled a season-high 19 hits in the game while drawing 11 walks.

After Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, CWRU answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning. A one-out two-run home run by Mackenzie, the first of his career, turned the one-run deficit into a one-run CWRU lead. Sophomore designated hitter Jay Smith and junior third baseman Zack Carinci each drove in runs, and Trout capped off the scoring with a two-run single with the bases loaded to put the Spartans ahead 6-1.

CWRU added single runs in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but Cortland remained close, scoring two in the fifth and one in the sixth to cut the Spartans' lead to 9-4. However, CWRU blew the game open with a seven run sixth inning to take a 16-4 lead and added a run in the eighth. Cortland scored one in the ninth but would not get any closer.

Graduate student Evan Faxon made his first start of the year and went the first four and a third innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Senior Jonathan Simon retired the final two batters of the fifth in relief, earning the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Sophomore Kyle Gearding, first-year Archer Stankowski, sophomore Jackson Brewer, and senior Sankalp Doshi each pitched an inning in relief to close out the win.

Cortland starter James LaBruno suffered the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season.

The 17 runs were the most the Spartans have scored in a game since a 17-3 win over Washington and Jefferson on February 26, 2022.

Case Western Reserve and Cortland will conclude their two-game series in Lexington on Tuesday with the first pitch of the game scheduled for 11:00 a.m.