WASHINGTON, Pa. - An eighth inning rally propelled Case Western Reserve to a 6-2 win over the Gators in a neutral site contest at Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park.
 
A pitcher's duel for the first seven innings, the Spartans scored four runs with two outs in the eighth inning - including a trio unearned - to break open a tie ballgame and improve to 2-0 on the season.
 
Case opened the game's scoring in the top of the first, with Rocco Maue stroking a one-out double, stealing third, and crossing the plate on an RBI groundout from Jacob Kucia.
 
Allegheny manufactured a run to tie it in the home half of the first. Brandon Pouch led off with a walk, before stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch.  Cullen Flaherty would then bring Pouch home with an RBI groundout of his own to tie it at 1-all.
 
The teams would trade zeroes over the next two frames, before Case used a walk, single, and error to score a single tally in the top of the fourth and take a 2-1 lead.
 
Again, the Gators answered right back in the bottom of the fourth.  Tom Cannon and Tyler Wagner drew back-to-back walks to lead off the frame, and each advanced 90 feet on a Dan Bonnett ground out. Luke Chutko followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, plating Cannon to forge a 2-2 tie.
 
Gator starter Jarod Deagen would then get into a groove, retiring nine straight batters between the fifth and seventh innings -with four K's over the span - to keep the game tied. The Gators threatened with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, with Flaherty stroking a triple and Cannon drawing a walk, but a pick off would end the threat and keep the game tied.
 
In the top of the eighth, Case's Jacob Lott led off with a pinch hit double to right, and advanced to third on a fly out to the right field corner. Deagen would get a foul pop for the second out of the frame, but Samuel Neal dropped a single into right field just in front of a diving Flaherty to plate Lott and give the Spatans a 3-2 lead.  Case would then go on to take advantage of a pair of Gator errors to add three more runs and up the lead to 6-2.
 
This time, Allegheny was unable to counter, as the Gators managed just one baserunner over the final two frames off of Case reliever Corey Brown, earned the win by throwing five scorelss innings of relief, allowing just one hit with five strikeouts.
 
The Flaherty triple and a Chutko double proved to be the only hits for the Allegheny offense, though the Gators drew eight walks and stranded seven runners for the game.  Cannon and Max Sessions were each walked twice, while Flaherty also reached base twice, adding a walk to his three-base hit.
 
Deagan worked 7 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs (six total) on eight hits, striking out five while issuing just one walk.  Cy Perry came on in relief and threw the final inning and a third, striking out three.
 
The Gators will now look for revenge against the Spartans, as the two teams will close out the weekend set with a 3 p.m. tilt on Sunday in Washington.