A first since 2009 was achieved Saturday for the John Carroll University baseball team.
 
John Carroll opened its three-game series with Transylvania with a 7-4 win on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Streaks had not won its first game of the season not played in Florida since a 5-3 win over Urbana in 2009.
 
Junior starter Aaron Lapaglia ran into a jam in the bottom of the second allowing three Pioneers to cross the plate. The starter would go on to battle for six innings allowing four runs on 10 hits to move to 2-0 for the year.
 
John Carroll chipped away at its deficit and had its ace back on top by the middle of the fourth inning.
 
The Blue Streaks scored two runs in the third with the top of the lineup jump-starting the offense. Rob Cifelli legged out a one-out trip and came in to score on Bobby Sabatino's single up the middle. Tyler Gentile would add a two-out double to right to bring in David Crowley.
 
John Carroll erupted for three runs in the fourth to take the 5-3 lead. The Blue Streaks started the inning with back-to-back singles from Mark Pisanello and Jacob Schriner. Mike Raschilla plated the first run of the inning with a chopper up the middle that deflected off of Transylvania starter Jamie King. Attempting to make a play, Pioneer shortstop Jared Willia made an errant throw to first allowing Schriner to score on the play. Gentile brought in the last run of the stanza with a bases-loaded walk.
 
The Blue and Gold pushed the lead to 7-3 in the sixth. Crowley and Gentile came through with back-to-back two-out singles. Transylvania answered with its final run of the game in the bottom of the frame.
 
The Pioneers threatened in the seventh with the first two batters reaching base. Sophomore Mark Materise worked out of the jam. The right-hander fielded his position on the sacrifice bunt. He would then record a strikeout and induce a groundout to get out of the frame.
 
"Mark was just outstanding in the seventh," said head coach Marc Thibeault. "He came in and really changed the complexion of the inning. They could have done some damage there and he was able to win pitch after pitch."
 
The sophomore worked out of another jam in the ninth. After the first two hitters reached via singles, Materise recorded back-to-back strikeouts before working to get a fly out. The sophomore would pick up his first career save firing three scoreless innings while striking out three.
 
Gentile led the Blue Streaks at the plate. The junior first baseman finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Cifelli and Schriner added multiple hits for the Blue and Gold.
 
"Tyler had some quality at bats today with a great two-strike approach," said Thibeault.
 
John Carroll improved to 7-3 with the win and now owns a five-game winning streak. Transylvania fell to 3-5.
 
John Carroll concludes its three-game tilt with Transylvania on Sunday. First pitch for the doubleheader is set for 11 a.m.