CHARLESTON, S.C. -  The Marist baseball team dropped its first game of a three-game series to No. 1 Virginia 9-1 to open the 2015 season.

Senior Mark Brennan (Wallingford, Conn.) led the way for the Red Foxes with two hits including a home-run which was the only run scored. Senior captain Steve Laurino (Carle Place, N.Y.) added two more hits for the Red Foxes.

Marist fell behind from the first inning and could not find its momentum. Virginia scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back. Two of the three runs scored in the first were unearned.

The Cavaliers added two runs in the second inning, one of which was unearned. Virginia scored another unearned run in the fourth to extend its lead to 6-0. The Red Foxes would get their only run of the game in the top of the fifth inning off of a homerun hit by Mark Brennan making the score 6-1.

Virginia scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning, homered in the sixth, and scored its final run in the eighth inning to give the final score of 9-1.

Starting pitcher Evan Davis (Little Falls, N.Y.) pitched 5 innings in the loss for Marist. Davis allowed five hits and struck out three batters.