ARLINGTON, Va.- The Immaculata baseball team took to the road on Friday afternoon for the first game of a pivotal three-game weekend series vs Marymount. Immaculata opened the scoring early with a big four-run first inning to earn the 10-8 victory over Marymount to open the series with the Saints.
 
In the first inning, Immaculata opened the scoring early as Joey Wright delivered a two-RBI single to right field, which scored Josh Crowding and Joey Sacco to give the Macs an early 2-0 lead. Richard Fontanillas moved to second on this play, which allowed him to score on a two-RBI double from Isaiah Payton, which stretched the lead to 3-0 while also moving Wright up to third with one away in the inning. Wright came around to score next on an RBI groundout off the bat of RJ Mason to give Immaculata a commanding 4-0 lead. Later in the inning, Payton attempted to score on a single off the bat of Frank Margiotta but was cut down at the plate to send the game to the home half of the first, with Immaculata leading by a score of 4-0.
 
In the home half of the first, Marymount got one run back on an RBI groundout to make the score 4-1 heading to the second before the Saints added another run in the second via another RBI groundout to trim the deficit to 4-2 heading into the third inning.
 
In the top of the fourth, Immaculata further extended its lead as the Macs as Tyler Kmiec doubled to left-center to score Sacco and Steven Theisen before coming around to score via an RBI single off the bat of Fontanillas to give the Macs a commanding 7-2 lead heading to the home half of the fourth.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Marymount scored a pair of runs to trim the deficit to 7-4, heading into the sixth. In the top of the sixth inning, Fontanillas singled through the left side to score Kmiec, who had reached via an error earlier in the inning to extend the Macs lead to 8-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Ryan Crowell (5-1) got the start for Immaculata and lasted five innings scattering six hits and four runs while walking three and striking out four to earn the victory. Greg Grandelli entered for the bottom of the sixth and tossed a scoreless frame to keep the Macs out in front by a score of 8-4 heading into the seventh.
 
In the top of the seventh, Immaculata added two more runs via an RBI single from Sacco and an RBI groundout from Crowding to hold a 10-4 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh. In the home half of the seventh, Grandelli surrendered a pair of runs to cut the lead to 10-6 before exiting in favor of Derek Andrada got a pair of outs before exiting for Michael Gama who entered for the final out of the inning.
 
In the top of the eighth, Immaculata threatened following a leadoff walk from Wright but Marymount escaped the winning without allowing Wright to cross to keep the deficit at 10-6 heading into the home half of the eighth.
 
In the home half of the eighth, Gama remained in the game for Immaculata and retired one Saint while allowing one hit and one unearned run before exiting in favor of Max Cannon. Cannon entered for the final 1.2 of the contest surrendering one run on one hit to secure the five-out save for Immaculata.
 
For the Saints, senior Ryan Bergenhagen (5-1) got the start lasting just 3.1 innings surrendering seven runs on seven hits with one walk and no strikeouts for his first loss of the season.
 
Immaculata will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at home vs Marymount in a doubleheader with significant playoff implications beginning at 12 p.m. This twinbill will also serve as Senior Day for the Mighty Macs.