BEAUMONT, Texas – The Marist baseball team dropped a pair of games in the Cardinal Classic, hosted by Lamar, as the Red Foxes opened their season on Friday. Marist suffered an 11-3 loss to Illinois-Chicago in its first game, and a 7-6 defeat to Lamar in game two.

Game One

Senior captain Zachary Passerelle (Sparta, N.J.) led the way for the Red Foxes with two hits and an RBI, and sophomore Graham McIntire (Concord, N.H.) drove in the other two runs.

Marist fell behind from the first inning and could not find its momentum. UIC scored in its opening at-bat, and following a scoreless bottom of the first by the Red Foxes, erupted for six runs in the second inning. Four of the runs were unearned.

The Red Foxes would get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning, however. After junior Steve Laurino (Carle Place, N.Y.) drew a leadoff walk, sophomore Matt Pagano (Cranston, R.I.) doubled to left field, advancing Laurino to third base. McIntire then drove in Marist's first run of the season by grounding out to UIC's shortstop, allowing Laurino to score.

UIC would score another run in the fourth inning after Tyler Demeter singled to left field, scoring teammate John Coen. The Flames scored two more runs in the sixth inning before another Marist player crossed home plate. In the eighth inning, Passerelle drove in fellow captain Nick McQuail (Wantagh, N.Y.) with a single up the middle. McIntire would drive in Marist's final run of the game one batter later, flying out to left field to score Laurino.

Starter Rich Vrana (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) pitched 5.1 innings in the loss for Marist. He allowed nine hits and struck out seven batters.

Game Two

McQuail, Passerelle and senior Pat Welsh (Millersville, Pa.) led the Marist attack with two hits apiece. McQuail added two runs scored and his first homer of the season.

After falling behind 5-1 after two innings, Marist slowly chipped away at its deficit. McQuail's homer led off the fourth. The teams then traded runs in the sixth, and Lamar added a run in the seventh to give the Cardinals a 7-3 lead heading to the eighth.

In the eighth, sophomore shortstop Joey Aiola (Suffern, N.Y.) and McQuail led off with both being hit by pitches. Aiola later scored on a wild pitch, and an RBI single by Passerelle made the score 7-5 heading to the ninth.

Welsh led off the ninth with a double, and scored on a groundout by freshman Jamari Moore (Marietta, Ga.). Aiola then singled with two outs, but was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a base hit by McQuail to end the game.

Senior lefty Jordan Eich (Spencerport, N.Y.), who went the first five innings, took the loss. Freshman right-hander Ryan Thomas (Ringoes, N.J.) retired all four batters he faced in relief, including one strikeout.

Marist will close out play in the Cardinal Classic on Saturday by facing Illinois-Chicago at noon and Lamar at 7 p.m.