WASHINGTON, Pa. - The Gator baseball team was defeated 4-3 by Case Western Reserve in a chilly, neutral site contest played at Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park.
 
The Gators (1-4) jumped out to an early three-run lead, but Case (3-1) scored four unanswered runs over the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead and earn the comeback victory.
 
The Gators out-hit Case 8-6 on the afternoon, led by Noah Shannon's 3-for-3 performance, but the Spartans took advantage of five Allegheny errors to plate three unearned runs.
 
After the two squads combined to manage just four baserunners over the first three innings, the Gators finally broke through in the top of the fourth. With one out, Tyler Wagner was hit by a pitch, and promptly moved to second after Andrew Vincent's single.  With two outs, Noah Shannon laced a triple into the right field corner to clear the bases and put the Gators up 2-0.  Evan Davis drew a walk to put runners at the corners, before Cullen Flaherty's line drive single to center brought home Shannon to make it 3-0.
 
Gator starter Sean Kealey cruised until the bottom of the fifth, when the Spartans put together their first scoring threat, taking advantage of a dropped pop up and a misplayed grounder to put runners at first and second with one out. Nate Glasser brought both runners home with a double to the fence in left field to cut the gap to 3-2, before he was plated by a Samuel Neal sacrifice fly to tie it at 3. An inning later, Case grabbed a 4-3 lead on a two-out RBI double from Jacob Lott.
 
Meanwhile, the Gator offense was kept at bay by Case reliever Scott Kutschke, who allowed just two batters to reach base between the fifth and eighth innings, at one point setting down nine straight. Shannon broke the streak with his third of the day to lead off the ninth, but Kutschke retired the next three batters in order, with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts, to end the game.
 
Kealey was strong in the no-decision, allowing two runs with six strikeouts over the first five innings. All three runs that he surrendered were unearned.  Dalton Donachie threw the final three frames and pitched well despite suffering the loss, as he allowed one run on three hits with two K's.
 
Case's offense was paced by Jacob Kucia, who tallied two of the Spartans' six hits on the day.  Kutschke threw the final five innings to earn the win, allowing no runs on three hits with four K's in relief of starter Matt Levine, who worked the first four frames and allowed three runs.
 
The Gators will now have a two-week respite, before returning to action on March 18 when they open up their spring break trip to Tucson, Arizona with a 1 p.m. EST game against Carroll University.