Arlington, Va. – Marymount University's baseball team hosted its first games of the season on Saturday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader against visiting McDaniel College. The Saints dropped the opener 4-0 before using a Ben Berczek walk-off homerun to down the Green Terror in the nightcap. With the win, Marymount improves to 2-5 on the season.
The Green Terror jumped on the board early in the opener, posting four runs on five hits across its 1st and 2nd frames. Despite the rocky start, Saints hurler Jake Brown (0-2) settled in nicely thereafter, not allowing another McDaniel baserunner for the rest of the game.
Bret Phillips provided most of the Saints offense in game one, pouring in a 2-3 effort to start his day.
The nightcap picked up where the day's opener left off, with Brandon Orbe (2-1) tossing six scoreless innings for the Saints in the eventual victory.
Neither team plated a run until the 6th inning when the Blue and White used a pair of doubles to find some offensive rhythm. A leadoff walk to Anthony Perretti proved the perfect start for the Saints, as Phillips followed the free pass with a double down the right field line. With one run across, Austin Schnarrs stepped up several batters later and delivered a double to the left field wall, plating Phillips and giving the Saints a two-run advantage heading into the final inning.
With its back against the wall in the top of the 7th inning, the McDaniel squad countered the Saints attack run for run, using a slew of infield singles to rally back from the two-run deficit.
Leading off the bottom half of that final frame, Ben Berczek broke the stalemate in dramatic fashion, sending the second pitch he saw well over the left field wall for his first career round-tripper.
Marymount returns to action on Sunday as it hosts Catholic in its second twinbill of the weekend. First pitch is slated for 11:30 a.m. The doubleheader will be played at Barcroft Park and directions to the venue can be found at www.MarymountSaints.com.