TOWSON, Maryland – The Marist baseball team added yet another season first to what turned out to be a big weekend, picking up its first series sweep of the year behind a ninth inning 5-3 comeback win at the Towson Tigers on Sunday.

SUMMARY:

For the third game in a row, the Red Foxes opened the scoring when in the top of the first inning, senior Andrew Rouse laced a one out double down the right field line. Two batters later, junior Frankie Gregoire drove in Rouse with an RBI single and gave Marist the 1-0 lead.

Four innings later in the top of the fifth, sophomore Patrick Lightner walked with one out and junior Anthony Lazar ripped an RBI double down the left field line to increase the lead to 2-0.

The Tigers answered in the bottom of the inning with a lead off single, a second single three batters later and an RBI single by the following batter to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Towson tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a lead off solo home run to left field.

One inning later, the Tigers took their first lead of the series with a one out single, a stolen base, a second single and an RBI sac bunt to take a 3-2 lead.

Down by a run and down to their last three outs, the Red Foxes answered when redshirt junior Jordan Roper smacked a lead off solo home run to left center. Three batters later, freshman Reece Armitage walked, Lightner reached on a throwing error by the third baseman that scored Armitage and allowed Lightner to advance to third and Lazar followed with an RBI single to give Marist a 5-3 lead.

Senior Mike Coss then returned to the mound for his second inning of relief and retired Towson in order to secure the comeback win.

KEY STATS:

• Both teams finished with 9 hits 
• The Tigers left 9 runners on base, while the Red Foxes stranded 5
• Marist batted .364 (4-for-11) with runners on, while Towson batted .235 (4-for-17)
• The Red Foxes batted .357 (5-for-14) with 2 outs, while the Tigers hit .273 (3-for-11)

GAME NOTES:

• Roper's home run was his first career home run
• Lazar's 2 hits gives him multiple hits in four straight games, his double gives him at least one double in four straight games and his RBI gives him an RBI in three straight games
• Rouse's two hits extends his hit streak to five games, his two doubles are his first multi-double game of the season and third of his career
• Gregoire's hit and RBI extends his hitting and RBI streak to three games 
• Sophomore Conor McNamara pitched a career high 6 innings and surrendered a season low 1 earned run

QUOTE:

I'm really happy with the way we played" said head coach Chris Tracz. "We pitched and played defense and were focused on the right things and that put us in position to win games. When our focus is on the the 34 guys in our dugout and we play together good things can happen."

UP NEXT:

Next, Marist returns to Poughkeepsie for its 2018 home opener vs the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Tuesday (3 p.m.).