The Case Western Reserve University baseball team swept a doubleheader at Adrian College on Thursday afternoon, winning the first game 6-3 and picking up a 17-8 victory in the second contest at Nicolay Field in Adrian, Michigan.

The Spartans picked up wins in back-to-back games for the first time this season to improve to 7-5 overall on the season, while the Bulldogs fell to 5-7 with the two losses.

Senior catcher/shortstop Jack Anderson went five-for-11 (.455) over the two games with three doubles, five runs batted in, and two stolen bases. He now has 12 doubles through the team's first 12 games of the year (including eight in the last four games) and is batting a team-high .471 for the campaign. Senior infielder Trey Haley added a four-for-nine (.444) showing with three doubles of his own, and sophomore outfielder Nick Harms went four-for-11 with two doubles and a pair of steals. As a team, CWRU totaled 29 hits, including 10 doubles, and stole 12 bases on 13 attempts over the two contests. The Spartans batted .358 as a team, while holding Adrian to a .229 average.

Game 1 – CWRU 6, Adrian 3
Anderson drove in three of the Spartans' six runs, including the go-ahead run in the sixth and an insurance run in the eighth, and sophomore righty Kyle Gearding threw seven strong innings on the mound to lead the Spartans to a 6-3 win in the first game of the day.

Gearding earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season, allowing just two runs on six hits and a walk over seven innings and striking out a career-high eight batters. He lowered his season ERA to 2.50 following the effort.

CWRU broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth when senior outfielder Kevin Mackenzie led the inning off with a base hit, moved to second on a ground out, and scored on a one-out RBI single by sophomore outfielder Logan Andreyko. Later in the inning, a run-scoring double by Anderson extended the Spartans' lead to 2-0. Adrian evened the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, but CWRU regained the lead in the top of the sixth on another double by Anderson that scored junior third baseman Tim Demetris from first and put the Spartans ahead 3-2.

CWRU would add on another run in the top of the eighth on a bases-loaded walk to Anderson to go ahead 4-2, but a solo home run in the bottom of the inning by Adrian trimmed the Spartans' lead back to a run. In the top of the ninth, Harms doubled to start the frame and Haley followed with a one-out double to extend the lead to 5-3. First-year second baseman Jasiah Harris followed with a two-out single to score Haley and give CWRU a 6-3 advantage.

Junior Tyler Horvath pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout to earn his third save of the season.

CWRU outhit Adrian 13-7 in the game. Anderson went three-for-four with two doubles and three RBIs, while Haley, Andreyko, and Harris each had a pair of hits with an RBI in the game.

Adrian starter Daniel Gutierrez suffered the loss to fall to 2-1 on the year.

Game 2 – CWRU 17, Adrian 8
The Spartans scored three runs in the first and seven in the second to jump out to a 10-0 lead, en route to a 17-8 win in the second game of the day.

First-year outfielder Matt Trout drove in four runs to increase his team-leading total to 16 this season, going three-for-five in the game. Harms added a three-for-six game with three runs scored, two RBI, a double, and a stolen base. Anderson, Mackenzie, and senior third baseman Owen Levinson each drove in a pair of runs, while Anderson, junior first baseman Zack Carinci, Mackenzie, and Haley each had a pair of hits in the game.

CWRU hit around in each of the first two innings of the game, sending nine batters to the plate in a three-run first, and 13 batters to the dish in a seven-run second to jump out to the big early lead. Adrian pulled closer with a run in the bottom of the second, three in the third, and one in the fifth to cut the Spartans' advantage to 10-5. However, CWRU added three more in the sixth, including two on two-out, two RBI double from Anderson to go ahead 13-5. Adrian scored three in the bottom of the eighth, before the Spartans put the game away for good with a four-run top of the ninth.

The 17 runs for the Spartans matched the team's season high.

First-year Austin McGowan started and went the first three innings and was followed by junior Patrick O'Connor, who allowed one run over the next two frames and earned the win in relief to improve to 2-1 on the year. First-year Archer Stankowski added two scoreless innings in relief and first-year Adam Hamilton pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the win for CWRU.

The Spartans will return to action with a doubleheader on Sunday at fourth-ranked Baldwin Wallace University starting at 1:00 p.m.