WASHINGTON – The Drew University baseball team used a nine-run outburst in the sixth inning of the second game and the Rangers earned a split at Catholic University in its Landmark Conference opener on Saturday.
 
Catholic, the defending Landmark Conference champion, won the opener 12-4 before Drew captured a 15-5 victory in the nightcap. The game was called after seven innings due to the Landmark Conference's 10-run rule.
 
Drew's Game Two victory was the team's first over the Cardinals since an 8-7 victory on April 28, 2019, when the Rangers scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh and won on a two-run walk-off single from Matt Lange C'20.
 
Freshman Nicholas Lo Vacco earned the win in the second game, tossing four innings and scattering four runs on four hits while striking out five. Junior Graham Ross worked the last three innings, limiting the Cardinals to one run on three hits while fanning two.
 
At the plate, freshman Matteo Gruendig went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored while sophomore Zach Maxwell and freshman Anthony Tetto ripped two hits apiece. Senior Nick Bisaccia added a triple and four RBIs.
 
In the second game, the Rangers never trailed and assumed a 2-0 run in the top of the second, scoring on a passed ball and a bases-loaded walk from Bisaccia.
 
Catholic scored single runs in the second and third to pull even at 2-2, but Drew took the lead for good with a four-run fourth. Gruendig and Tetto led off with back-to-back singles before junior Tyler Giordano laid down a bunt that was thrown away, allowing two runs to score. Sophomore Frank Master followed up with an RBI-single before Maxwell capped the inning with another run-scoring single that made it 6-2.
 
The Cardinals answered with two in the bottom of the fourth, and Ross took the mound in the fifth, when he worked out of a jam. Catholic put runners on second and third following a leadoff walk and a two-run double, but he struck out the Cardinals' No. 7 hitter to escape.
 
The Rangers sent 11 batters to the plate in their big sixth inning in which they pounded five hits and drew four walks. The inning included an RBI-single from sophomore Anthony Vallaro and a run-scoring double from Gruendig. Bisaccia capped the inning with a three-run triple on a blast to the right-center gap. He attempted to come all the way around to score when the throw from the outfield got away from the second baseman, but the fielder recovered in time to throw out Bisaccia at the plate.
 
Ross stranded three runners over the last two innings to record his first save of the year and the third of his career.
 
Lo Vacco (2-0) has now helped the Rangers to a victory in each of his last three starts.
 
The first game was a close affair before Catholic broke it open with a six-run eighth inning. Drew led three times, going in front 2-0 in the first, 3-2 in the second, and 4-3 in the sixth, but Catholic tied the game in the bottom of each inning. The Cardinals then took a 6-4 lead with a two-run sixth before their big inning.
 
Giordano, sophomore Dylan Gallagher, and freshman Nick Donofrio each collected two hits in the first game while junior Tyler Bell started on the mount and worked 6 1/3 innings, striking out four while yielding five runs on seven hits.
 
The two sides conclude their season series with the rubber match on Sunday starting at noon back at Catholic.