APOLLO, Pa. - A four-under 66 from sophomore Matthew Del Rosso highlighted a historic round for the Allegheny men's golf team on the opening day of the Carnegie Mellon Fall Shootout.

Del Rosso closed the opening round with a one-stroke lead to top the 83-player field, while the Gators totaled a staggering 276 as a team to head into Sunday's final round with a two-shot advantage over second-place Thomas More at the Par 70 Links of Spring Church. 

The 66 marked a career-best for Del Rosso, and the best single round turned in by an Allegheny golfer since Collin Haag shot 65 at the Wooster Gatorade Intercollegiate Invitational on Sept. 3, 2016.  Del Rosso's round is just the seventh 66 or better in Gator program history.

Junior Andy Reynolds was a second Gator to break par on the day, shooting a season-best two-under 68 to sit in third place.

Three Gator freshmen will enter the final round in a tie for 11th place, as Tyler Pham, Alex Lawson, and Ryan Dayton (competing as an individual) each carded season-best scores of one-over 71.

Thomas More, which closed the first round with a team total of 278, also saw a pair of golfers break par, with Kyle Alexander shooting 67 and Landon Finn 69. Host Carnegie Mellon totaled 286 to enter the final round in third place, while Washington & Jefferson (290) and Denison (291) closed out the top five in the team standings. A total of 14 Division III squads are competing in the event.

The second and final round of the CMU Fall Shootout will get underway in Apollo on Sunday with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.