AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Drew University baseball team rallied in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, but Fitchburg State University scored twice in the top of the 10th, handing the Rangers an 8-6 loss in the final game of Drew's spring break trip to Florida.
 
The setback ended Drew's nine-game winning streak, believed to be the longest in school history in one season and just one shy of the overall record of 10 set over the 1997 and 1998 campaigns.
 
Sophomore Raiden Yost led the Rangers (9-2) at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Junior Anthony Diaz finished 2-for-5 while sophomore Dallas Lorenzetti slugged a double.
 
The Rangers were in control early and led 5-1 after four innings of play. Drew jumped on top 3-0 in the first, which included singles from Diaz and Yost and was capped by a bases-loaded walk from sophomore Ryan Jones and an RBI-single from junior Justin Cece.
 
The Falcons scored once in the second, but senior reliever Giovanni DeGiglio avoided further damage by picking a runner off first to end the inning.
 
The Rangers extended their lead to 5-1 in the fourth, when Lorenzetti chased home a run with his double before sophomore Will Fritch brought home another with a sacrifice fly.
 
In the meantime, DeGiglio tossed three shutout innings from the third through the fifth, fanning the side in the third. He helped himself with his second pickoff in the fifth, when senior catcher William Coleman ended the inning by throwing out a runner at second.
 
The Falcons rallied in the sixth, pushing across five runs on three hits, four walks, and two errors to go up 6-5. However, senior Joseph Caggiano helped keep it a one-run game for Drew, blanking the Falcons from the seventh through the ninth while retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced over the stretch.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, the Rangers were down to their last out when Yost and junior Nate Miller ripped back-to-back singles. Junior Luis Fuentes then tied it up when he singled home Yost, sending Drew to its third extra-inning affair of the week.
 
Caggiano retired his eighth straight batter to start the 10th, but that's when Fitchburg worked back-to-back walks before pinch-hitter Matthew Smith singled home what held up as the game-winning run. The Falcons would push across an unearned run, but sophomore reliever Alex Barbarisi recorded the final two outs of the frame for Drew.
 
The Rangers would not go quietly, however. Jones provided a spark with a leadoff single before moving to second on an errant pickoff attempt. Two batters later, senior K.J. Hallgren stroked a pinch-hit single, putting runners on the corners. But reliever Orion Daily ended the game on a strikeout and lineout.
 
Daily (1-0) scattered five hits over five innings while striking out eight to earn the win. Caggiano (0-1) was charged with the loss despite yielding just one earned run over 3 1/3 innings.
 
The Rangers are back in action on Tuesday, when they visit Montclair State University in a non-conference game starting at 3 p.m.